The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1933, Page 39

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

39

of defenders. And so touching was this appeal of
their prince that the people responded with great
enthusiasm. Maidens brought their bracelets,
brooches, and other articles of jewelry, and mar-
ried women brought their wedding-rings, their last
and most precious possessions, and gave them to
their country. With these last gifts another army
was fitted out, and such was the desperate valor dis-
played by the little country’s soldiers that the enemy
was overwhelmingly defeated and the principality’s
safety and independence secured. In recognition of
the patriotism of the country’s maids and women
the prince had these iron rings made from the last
resources of the state treasury and then gave them
to those who, because they loved their country, had
given gold for iron. Need we say that no gold can
be so precious as are these iron rings to those who
possess them ?

The days of self-sacrifice are not yet over. We
have men and women in our Church who are giving
all life’s gold for iron, our Home and Foreign Mis-
sion workers, men and women, married and unmar-
ried, who in the homeland and in other countries in
our stead and as our representatives, with unwaver-
ing loyalty to Christ and an inexhaustible spirit of
self-sacrifice, are bringing the tidings of the world’s
redemption to those who are estranged from God by
the ignorance of their hearts. As we think of the
splendid loyalty of these missionary workers of our
Church, as we bring to mind their undaunted cour-
age, their inexhaustible patience, their willingness
to work for us though they realize our lack of appre-
ciation for what they are doing in our stead, we can-
not but feel assured that the Holy Spirit is present
with them and will graciously bless their labors of
love and loyalty. F.J.L.

Foreign-Mission Work and Workers.

The essay below was handed us by a Lutheran
public-school superintendent. The composition was
written by a high-school girl as the result of a class
assignment in Social Science. The members of the
class were asked to bring compositions telling of
some “carrier of civilization.” One of the members
of the class, a Lutheran girl belonging to one of our
congregations, handed in this essay : —

“The foreign missionary is the greatest of civili-
zation carriers. He goes to non-Christian people
and shows them the great benefits of Christian
morals and the Christian religion: Mission-work is
usually supported by some particular church-body.

_ficing labors of our foreign missionaries.

Paul is known as the first and greatest of all foreign

_Missionaries, and he with his successors succeeded in

bringing the entire Roman Empire under the blessed
influence of the Christian religion, even though not
all that lived within the bounds of the empire be-
came real Christians.

“Foreign Mission work, spreading the Gospel in
heathen countries, is a great power for good. A mis-
sionary takes a great risk and responsibility upon
himself when he goes among heathen people to bring
them the Gospel of Christ. A missionary generally
selects a certain place where he builds himself a
house, and from this post he tries to influence the
surrounding people for a certain distance. He takes
these people under his care, preaches to them,
teaches the children, and helps them when they are
sick. He is their teacher, pastor, doctor, and guide.
He shows the men how to plow and plant their
fields, he tells them how to drain their land, how to
build better homes, and how to take better care of
their animals; he and his wife show the heathen
women how to cook, how to sew, and how to make
their homes more comfortable and clean; they also
tell the heathen mothers how to take better care of
their little babies and how to take care of their sick;
they dress wounds, perform minor and major opera-
tions, pull teeth, and nurse the sick themselves in
case of dangerous illness. They do all these civiliz-
ing things in order to gain the confidence and good
will of the heathen, so they may bring them under
the influence of the Gospel’s teaching. To this end
they gather men, women, and children into classes
for instruction in the Christian religion, and when
the members of such a class have gained enough
knowledge, they baptize them. Through the un-
selfish work of foreign missionaries many heathen
have been brought to the saving knowledge of Christ
and have been lifted from the condition of savages
and barbarians to a state of civilization.

“Such being the blessed result of Foreign Mis-
sion work, let us not forget to give our coins when
collections for Foreign Missions are lifted in church
and Sunday-school, because we know that such
money is used to save souls and better the bodily
condition of many people.”

While not losing sight of the real purpose of all
true mission-work, this high-school girl also sees the
great social blessings that result from the self-sacri-
F.J.L.

“Not what we gain, but what we give
Measures the worth of the life we live.”