Part 8

A fear of the white man has been planted in the Indian by these things. This makes it hard for the missionary. When one visits their villages, the children and women run and hide, and sometimes the men too. Only when one is well acquainted will they show friendliness. To reach them, a missionary must live among them, show them love and kindness and prove by word and deed that they are their friends, and desire to bring them to the true light of our Savior Jesus Christ.

These poor Indians are much oppressed. A planter will make a contract with a man for himself and oftentimes his woman or wife (they are seldom married) and all his children, to pick coffee, etc., giving him money on the contract for his living. When the planter is ready this man and his family must appear and work, gathering the crop, receiving twelve to twenty cents per day. If he does not appear, soldiers are sent after him, and he is brought at the point of the bayonet with his hands tied behind him and made to work until his debt is paid. The contract may be made as far as twelve months ahead, and likely the man has used up all that his contract calls for. He then seeks work elsewhere, or even contracts himself to another planter.

I know a man who has been trying for four or five years to get free from his “patron,” as the planter is called. Because he is a good worker the planter will not release him unless he pays four or five times more than he owes. The man is interested in the Gospel. We are praying God to liberate him and make him a true servant for our Lord Jesus Christ.

May God help the Church of Christ to awake to see the awful condition of these people, who are also compelled to pay their church dues by law and by force. I know a woman who was back in her church dues. They took all that she had, which was a few chickens.

Friend, will you not take these dear people on your heart in prayer and intercession? God can and does save poor Indians. We have seen His work in the lives of some. Brother, Sister, awake! Our Lord is at hand, and what is done must be done quickly. “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.”

There is also a remnant of Indians in remote parts of the Republic known as the Suma and Mosquito tribes. These Indians have not come under the influence of the Church of Rome. They do not speak the Spanish language. There is more English than Spanish spoken among them. For more than half a century the Moravian missionaries have worked among them. They have several missions and churches scattered along the Atlantic coast, and up some of the large rivers. The Moravian Mission has translated the New Testament into the Mosquito language.

“WHERE IS THE WHITE MAN’S BOOK OF HEAVEN?”

In 1831, four Indian chiefs from Idaho made their way over the Rockies and were found on the streets of St. Louis, asking, “Where is the white man’s Book of Heaven?”

General Clark befriended them, took them around the city, where they were shown everything of interest, and they were treated with the utmost kindness. Finally two of the chiefs fell ill and died, and when the remaining Indians were preparing to return to their own tribes, the general gave a feast for them. At the banquet, in a farewell address to General Clark and friends, one of the two Indians poured forth his burden of sorrow in words of pathetic eloquence, as follows:

“I came to you over the trail of many moons from the setting sun. I came with an eye partly open for my people, who sit in great darkness, but I go back with both eyes closed. How can I go back blind to my blind people? I made my way to you with strong arms, through many enemies, and through strange lands, that I might carry back to my people much knowledge, for my people sent me to get the white man’s Book of Heaven.

“You took me to see many strange things, and to places where you allow your women to dance, as we do not ours, but the Book was not there, and now we are going back the long trail to our people in the dark land. You make my feet heavy with many gifts, and my moccasins will grow old carrying them, but the Book is not among them. What shall I do? Shall my people die in darkness? When I go to them, without the white man’s Book of Heaven, and tell them I could not get it, they will rise up, one by one, and go out, to return no more, for it is for that Book that they have been awaiting my return. How can I return to my people without the Book?”

It is said that the city was searched for a Bible in this man’s language, but there was none to be found, and the Indians went their way. This incident was told in a Methodist Episcopal conference, and an appeal was made for some to carry the Gospel to the Indians. Two young men just starting in the ministry were present, and they arose and said they would go. They married two lovely young women, and loaded an ox-wagon with their belongings and with Bibles translated into the language of the Indians to whom they were going. Many weeks of strenuous travel passed before they reached their destination with the white man’s Book of Heaven.

The first two white women to cross the Rockies were these two young brides, with their husbands. They spent their lives preaching the Gospel to the Indians, hundreds of whom were brought to Jesus through this faithful ministry.

Shall we not learn a great lesson from this story? Shall we not, with all our modern conveniences and greater opportunities, rise up and get the message to the great masses of humanity before Jesus comes?

One time, while preaching to a large crowd of natives in Central America, I told them of the great love of God, and how He had saved us, and put His great love in our hearts which was why we were there to preach to them and tell them of that love. When I finished, an old man arose. He said he was eighty-four years old, and this was the first time he had heard the Gospel. Then he asked, “How long have you people of the United States known of this wonderful love of God?” I answered that we had always known of Jesus, that thousands knew of Him, and were serving Him, and that I had been saved about fifteen years. The old man then asked why, if we had known of this great Savior so long, we had not come sooner to tell his people about Him, for all his relatives had died, and had never heard the Gospel. He continued, “If I had known this Gospel and the wonderful love and power of God to save us from all sin, and if you had known nothing of it, I would have come to you.”

When I began to make preparations to leave their village they held on to my dress and to my arms, begging me not to leave them, with no one to teach them about the Bible, and they would not let me go. Finally I had to pull myself from them and go for my train. As far down the track as I could see, those dear ones were waving and calling me to return to them. Even now I can see those beckoning hands and hear those voices calling, although I am now far away in my homeland.

What? Shall they perish without knowing of God’s great love and of His power and willingness to bless them and lift them up from the awful darkness of sin and idolatry which they are in? I wish my readers might get a peep into the land where the true God is unknown, and where there are no Bibles to guide the people into the right path, I am sure they would give, and so help others, who have been called, to go.

Do You Know What I Would Do?

If you had been born in a distant land, Far over the deep wide sea; If you had been born on a foreign strand, And I, in America free? If you were I, and I were you, Do you know what I would do?

If you had been born with a swarthy skin, And people looked on you with scorn: While I know nothing is black but sin, And the soul may be white as the lily at morn; If I had a chance to uplift you, Do you know what I would do?

If you were an orphan, and homeless too, And never had heard of the Lord; While I had been taught from earliest days To love and obey His Word; If you were poor, and ignorant too, Do you know what I would do?

I would save my pennies and nickels and dimes, And send them over the sea; That you might be fed and clothed and taught, To worship the God who is dear to me; If you were I, and I were you, That is just what I would do.

I would tell all the boys and girls around Just what I was working for, too; And I’d never give up till I got them to help To send you the Gospel true; If you were I, and I were you, That is just what I would do.