The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1933, Page 138

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138

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

has had a baptism of fire and that there burns
within it the Pentecostal flame. We must never
forget the horrible pit of heathenism from which
these people have so recently been digged. Many
slip back, and every Communion season is saddened
by the reading of the list of those who have been
suspended or excommunicated, together with the
reason in each case — adultery, fetishism, or other
forms of corruption and unfaithfulness.

In spite of all his falls and failings the Bulu is
“religious.” Every Sunday we were confronted with
great audiences, a large proportion of whom came
long distances to church services. At every Com-
munion the churches were thronged. Sunday morn-
ing at Elat over 4,300 were present, and at Okon in
the Ntom, over sixty miles from Efulen, the nearest
mission-station, there were over 2,200, half of whom
at least had to sit. outside the building. These
crowds were not unusual. At the previous Com-
munion in the Ntom there had been almost 2,000.

We were much impressed by the good order and
quietness of these great audiences. The mothers
nursed their babies; and if one of them cried, they
rose and took him out. I was surprised at how
few were taken out. The congregations were rev-
erent, attentive, and responsive, not in any instance
excitable or emotional. They never responded un-
less called upon to do so. At the Olama Communion
over one thousand recited the Ten Commandments
without pause or prompting. The Bulu hymnology
is not large as yet, but most of the great hymns of
the Church are now included. Comparatively few
of the people have hymn-books, and yet everywhere
they sang the hymns, all of the verses, from memory.
I have heard more accurate, but nowhere more en-
thusiastic or worshipful singing.

Our Sunday at Batanga on the coast deserves
special mention. There they have no church-
building, and several tribes with different languages
dwell within the district. In the morning it rained,
and the big outdoor meeting that had been planned
had to be postponed. Instead of it there were about
a half dozen group meetings, some of them tribal,
each in charge of an evangelist. In the afternoon it
stopped raining long enough to hold a big meeting
in a sort of natural amphitheater, the whole of

which was shaded and largely covered by the
branches of a great clump of bamboos growing at
the center. Beneath this a platform, with a rude
shelter, had been erected for the missionaries, and
in front of this platform over, a thousand people
‘were seated upon large bamboo poles, tier. above tier

in a great semicircle. When I spoke, there stood
beside me two interpreters. The one, who under-
stood English, a native minister, interpreted to the
Bengas; the other, an evangelist, who understood
Benga, interpreted to the Bulus.

But even more impressive than the crowded
Sunday services or the Thursday morning prayer-
meetings were the sunrise-meetings which are held
regularly the year around in every station and out-
station and in many little villages. At six o’clock
throughout Bululand, just as the sun is rising, you
can see the Christians going to the church or chapel ;
presently you hear them singing, and in the quiet
that follows you know that they are on their knees
before God. These are the salt of that ancient
earth impregnated with its immemorial corruptions ;
these are the leaven of that lump of nameless filth
and sodden degradation; these are the lights of that
land of darkness and mysterious shadows. Out of
that land, still feeling the pressure of the thousands
of black welcoming hands, our ears still filled with
these hymns of the morning, our eyes still beholding
these great throngs of devout worshipers, we have
returned to America to tell the Church at home that
the night is far spent, the day is at hand.

Items of Missionary Interest.
(By the Eprror.)

Eastern Field Notes. — The so-called Eastern
Field of our Colored Missions includes not only the
stations in the East, but those in our Northern
States; in fact, all stations outside of Louisiana,
Alabama, and Mississippi. The superintendent of
this extensive field is the Rev. Wm.’ F. Gehrke.
From Superintendent Gehrke’s Bulletin, with which
he favors us every month, we cull the following
items for our readers. The Eastern Field has the
only two self-supporting congregations of our Col-
ored Missions, St. Philip’s of Chicago and St.
Philip’s of St. Louis. — There are thirty-one aided
congregations in the Eastern Field. — The number
of regular day-schools is not as large as in Alabama
and Louisiana, but a number of very flourishing
Saturday- and vacation-schools are in operation.;—
The Buffalo vacation Bible-school, for example, had
an enrolment of eighty, and High Point had a
vacation-school with an enrolment of eighty-four. —
‘Cleveland, Grace in St. Louis, Buffalo, Southern
Pines, and Springfield congregations received new
members by Baptism and confirmation.