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W. nOSTE, B.A... OX FETICHISil — 



neck was to keep ou sore throat. Tliat one round his left arm 

 was to make his wife love him. Aiiother was to keep pain from 

 his legs, another to protect his feet. I siicrcrested, qmte gravely 

 of course, that he ought never to be ill, indeed that he ought 

 never to die. He demurred at that. He was just getting over 

 a bad sore throat, and half the people in the district were dving 

 of sleeping sickness (aU of whom probably wore fetiches j. Oh 

 no, we must aU die sooner or later." ' Well, * I said. " we have 

 to tell you that the Great God above has sent His Son down into 

 this world to save men from dvinL' I:: : ve 

 on Him become immune from d ^ :xis 

 world, but they don't die,. • : He seemed 



immensely struck with this. I j ii.rn::on that, my 



knowledge of Luban being ve: ], I had to speak by 



interpretation. 



In the afternoon we invited the chief and the whole ^-illage to 

 gather roimd in the open courtyard in front of the chief's house 

 to hear more. In the middle of the service we noticed the old 

 chief struggling out of his great bead necklaces, and then detach- 

 ing one after the other his fetiches and making a pile of them on 

 the ground. The friend I was with asked him what he was 

 doing. He replied, *' If it be true that the Son of God has come, 

 and I believe it is, what good can these things do me ? " He 

 then called his wife and children to do the same, and they came 

 forward and deposited their fetiches on the pile. We were glad 

 he did not attempt to force the whole village to follow suit 

 against their personal con\-ictions. Then with his willing consent 

 a bonfire was made and the whole collection burnt. WTien the 

 match was being appUed, those standing by recoiled in horror, 

 thinking that at least the sky would fall. But when they saw 

 no one was any the worse, they took courage and closed in again. 

 The prime minister, a most recalcitrant looking individual, seemed 

 anything but pleased at aU this, but the next day he too decided 

 to foUow the Words of Grod," being won over by the exhorta- 

 tions of some Christian natives among our carriers. 



This is a point where modem spiritism differs from her poor 

 relation in Africa. In the former case the fundamental doctrines 

 of Christianity are said to " need restatement," which is a 

 euphemistic way of saying that they are not true, as beUeved by 

 ordinary Christian folk. It must be a spurious Christianity 

 which can had as aUy a system which denies the faU of man, 

 the Deity of Christ, the Atonement and the Judgment to come ; 



