Bringing the gospel in Hogan and Pueblo

Front matter

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Introduction

I GLADLY WRITE a word of introduction to this book of the Rev. John Dolfin. Having been associated with him during several years of sei-vice on our Mission Board, his companion on several trips, I knew that he was wellposted on • the subject of Missions, particularly on the work among the Indians of the Southwest of our land, and I feel sure that those who peruse the book will soon agree with me on the matter. What Rev. Dolfin writes in the opening chapters, and his introduction to the several contributions of the workers, as well as the closing chapters, show abundantly that the author possesses a splendid fund of information on the subject. What struck me in perusing the MS. was the spirit of appreciation shown in regard to the work of the various laborers. It also occurred to me to be a happy thought that so many of our workers had been asked to furnish a contribution. No one can describe their task as well as they themselves. The reader will also observe that the author has given wise hints here and there about desirable improvements as to methods and plans of work. The Sharpened-Arrow-Heads give valuable information about the work of Indian Missions in its broader scope and in its spiritual aspects. The third Chapter gives a fine background to the book, as it describes the surroundings of Gallup, N. M. Many books on Missions so limit themselves to the work, that an outsider finds it hard to realize in just what surroundings the labor is carried on. What is told about the Navahoes and Zunies as to the customs,

10 Introduction

legends, and superstitions, will be read with great interest by all who love folklore and ethnology. The pictures shown are all from original photos.

The entire work will be a valuable contribution to the cause of Missions among the aborigines of our land, and be appreciated by all lovers of the good work. For the people of the Christian Reformed Church it will simply prove to be invaluable, being the fii'st extensive work on the subject in the English language.

Invoking God's blessing upon this effort,

HENRY BEETS.

Preface

IT HAS BEEN our desire and ambition for a long time to impart some information concerning the Navahoes and Zunies, two tribes of Indians among whom we as a Church are privileged to labor in the Gospel ministry, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of our entering upon that work. To be sure, much has been written on the subject in papers and magazines, as also in pamphlet publications, distributed broadcast among our people, and undoubtedly more has been told in missionary sermons and lectures in our churches and at Mission Fests thruout our land, by those particularly interested in our Indian work, but, after all, from conversations with many of our people, we are convinced that the knowledge concerning these Indians and the work of the Lord among them is, in many respects, erroneous and not very extensive, to say the least. That there is not only room for a book of this character and description, but also a great need, if our people thru knowledge are going to be interested in the cause of Indian Missions, goes without gainsaying. We want to offer it as a Twenty-fifth Anniversary Memorial, with the hope and prayer that it may increase the love for and interest in our Indian work where it already exists and awaken it there where, because of sinful prejudice or unanswerable antipathy, it is not found.

We appreciate more than we can tell, the kindness and willingness of our busy and faithful workers on the field in sending us their articles on subjects assigned. We are persuaded that these Chapters, written by those

12 Preface

actively and personally engaged in the work, will be read with the deepest interest. We also appreciate the kindness and encouragement given by different brethren with whom we consulted from time to time, as our Secretary of Missions, Rev. H. Beets, LL.D., and the Rev. M. Van Vessem, who showed his interest in many ways, but especially by giving us some of the illustrations which greatly enhance the value of the book.

We confess, the gathering of the information contained in the following chapters has been a great pleasure and a most interesting work. And now we have but one desire, and that is that also this work may redound to the glory of our Lord and to the extension of His cause among the many Indians within and without our land, who

are still groping in pagan darkness.

THE AUTHOR.

CON TEN TS

I. The Great Commission 15

II. The Christian Reformed Church and Missions 26

III. Gallup and Her Scenic Surroundings 34

IV. The Navahoes 48

A — Customs 76

B — Legends 84

C — Superstitions 88

V. Rehoboth, New Mexico 97

Bringing the Gospel to the Navaho at a Mission Boarding School, by Rev. J. W. Brink, Missionai'y-Pastor 101

VI. Crown Point, New Mexico 122

Bringing the Gospel to the Navahoes at a Government School, by Rev. Jacob Bolt, Missionary 128

VII. A Pioneer Missionary to the Navahoes 133

Bringing the Gospel to the Hogans, by Rev. L. P. Brink, Missionary 140

VIII. Lay-woi'kers in our Indian Mission Service 161

Camping with the Navahoes, by Mr. William Mierop, Field Missionary at Rehoboth, N. M. 167

IX. Tohatchi, New Mexico 188

On the Trail of the Navaho in and Around Tohatchi, by Mr. Mark Bouma, Missionaryin-Charge at Tohatchi, N. M 192

X. Medical Missions 209

Medical Work Among the Navahoes, by Dr. J. D. Mulder, Rehoboth, N. M 214

XI. Educational Missions 220

Educational Work Among the Navahoes, by Miss Renzina Stob, Principal at the Rehoboth School 226

XII. Industrial Missions 233

Industrial Efforts Among the Navahoes, by Mr. J. H. Bosscher, Manager at Rehoboth 241

XIII. The Navaho Religion 250

The Religious Views of the Navahoes, by Rev. L. P. Brink, Toadlena, N. M 252

XIV. The Zunies 263

A — Customs 289

B— Legends 299

C — Superstitions 304

XV. Entering the Zuni Field 309

The Zuni Mission, by Rev. H. Fryling, Missionary at Zuni, N. M 315

XVI. Non-Reservation Schools 342

The Religious Work at Non-Reservation Schools, by Mr. M. Van der Beek, Director of Religious Work 350

XVII. A Word in Conclusion 355

They Who Have Been and Who are Still in our

Indian Mission Service 365

Sharpened Arrow-Heads 368

Bibliography 374

I. The Great Commission

TT WOULD SEEM out of place to us to offer ■■• you a book on Missions, in commemoration of the twentj^-fifth Anniversary of our entering upon the work among the dwellers in Hogan and Pueblo, without an opening chapter on the Great Commission. The importance and meaning of this Commission cannot well be over-estimated. Only when our interest in and our concern for the evangelization of the world is founded upon the Lord's command, shall they remain both firm and steadfast amidst all the discouraging features encountered and all the criticism, by enemies great and small, met with in the Cause.

The Book we love, because it speaks to us of the way of salvation and is become to us the only infallible rule and measure of our faith and life, is the same Book which drives the Missionary forth to his great adventures, and remains his constant companion on all his wanderings. It goes without gainsaying, therefore, that for him who goes to the field and for us who remain at home to hold the ropes, that Book speaks the biggest word for Missions. There may be many and various appeals inciting to missionary activity, such as: the present great opportunities in all parts of the world, the cry of races and of nations, the fearful siitferings and the appalling needs of those without God, without Christ and therefore without hope in the world, but, it has been well said, underneath them all is the great diapason of the Word: "Go ye; I am with you."

Remember, first of all, when this Command was given! Not until after the resurrection. Methinks, this tells us that the Master fully realized that before this great event His disciples were in no way able to receive it. Their ideas of Him and of His Kingdom were so earthly and so Jewish that they certainly would have had no ears for or interest in such a Commission. Moreover, the Lord knew that many things that He spoke to them during His sojourn would be forgotten, therefore He undertook to give His Commission under such impressive and awe-inspiring circumstances that it would be next to impossible for them ever to lose sight of it.

It was on the third day after the crucifixion, on the evening of the day of resurrection, the disciples being gathered in an upper room behind barred doors for fear of the Jews, that they were talking together about what had taken place upon that memorable day. Jesus, the beloved. Whom they trusted to have been He which should have redeemed Israel, had been seen alive of Mary Magdalene and of the other women, and what seemingly, at least, persuaded them that it was really true was the fact that He had appeared to Simon, and now the two disciples from Emmaiis also enter and still further confirm the truth of it by telling of their experience. Then, suddenly, without a bar being withdrawn or a door being unbolted, Jesus Himself, stood in the midst of them. They were filled with fear, thinking they saw a spirit, but He soon assuaged their fears by demonstrating His identity, showing them His hands and His feet, and eating before them a piece of a broiled fish and of a honey-comb. Whatever else He may have said to them on this never-to-be-forgotten occasion, His command concerning missions was so indelibly impressed upon their hearts that when the evangelist came to write of this visit, that was uppermost in his mind. Again, some time later, when in obedience to the Master's own instructions, the disciples and, according to Paul, five hundred others assembled on a mountain in Galilee, Jesus appeared and once more, of all that was said and spoken by Him, only the missionary command is recorded. But still, this is not all. After the forty days had elapsed since the resurrection. He gathered His disciples on Mount Olivet and before ascending to His Father, He once inore addressed them on this subject, saying: "But ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judrea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." And with these words trembhng, as it were, upon His lips, the very last He ever uttered to man before going back to His Father, He was received up into the heavens, and a cloud hid Him from mortal view.

Another consideration that we should in no wise overlook is the fact that, whereas some things that Jesus said, are spoken of by one or two of the evangelists and passed over by the others in silence, the Great Commission is emphasized not only by all the four Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but also by Peter and Paul in their letters to churches and individuals. Then, when we remember that these Apostles and many others gave their very lives in obedience to this Commission, we say, this is not only an important command, but the most important given to the disciples by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Why ! It was for that to which this connnand looks that He gave His life upon the bitter and accursed Cross of Calvary, and our obedience to it shall bear fruit and thus verify the word of the prophet of ancient days: "He shall see the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied."

Furthermore is the supreme importance of this command accentuated by the very fact that Christ's three years of active ministry and teaching led up to it. We know, on two former occasions He formally commissioned His disciples, once the twelve, and later on the seventv. These we recognize as trial-missions, limited as they were both to area and to objects, Galilee and the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In both cases the instructions may be called the lesser commissions when we place them in comparison with the Great Commission uttered after the resurrection. From all this it assuredly should be felt and realized, should it not? that nothing can be more binding upon the heart and conscience of a follower of Christ than the Great Commission, including His Home and Foreign Mission command.

Altho Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John report substantially the great commission, nevertheless, to understand it in its fullness of meaning and significance, we should place these four accounts side by side and study them together.

"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying. All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28: 18-20.)

"And He said unto them. Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned." (Mark 16: 15,16.)

"And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." (Luke 24:48, 49.)

"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this. He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ve retain, they are retained." (John 20: 21-230

First of all we should view each one of these records in the light of the Gospel in which it is found. As the stream that flowed from the Garden of Eden was parted into four heads, so the story of the life and teachings of Him Who declared Himself to be the water of life comes to us thru four channels. W^e do not have four Gospels, but one Gospel under a fourfold aspect. Even so we do not have four commissions, but one commission recorded and emphasized by four different writers.

By Matthew Jesus Christ is presented from the Jewish point of view, showing that He was the promised Messiah, of the seed of Abraham and thru the kingly line of David. The Kingship of Jesus is therefore especially revealed. It is the Gospel of royal authority, and consequently we find that Matthew in recording the

Great Commission, is supremely impressed with Christ's words on the slopes of Mount Olivet : "All power (authority) is given unto Me," etc. It is the commission of the King, the Law-giver. It rings with the note of authority. Thus it also answers to the first need of the world, namely, authority. The voice which the world, especially today, needs to hear is indeed pre-eminently the voice of authority, and authority, in the matter of moral standards. The world today, if it needs anything, it needs to know by an enunciation that is binding and authoritative, what sin is. The authority of Jesus, the Lordship of Christ, and not His love and His ability to save, should, therefore, be the first note of christian preaching at home and abroad. We must return to the old truth that no man can enter into the experience of conversion and salvation until he has come to conviction of his sin and need, and that conviction can only be produced by an authoritative moral standard. And that standard is provided by Christ Jesus in His teaching and in His life.

Mark's purpose was to present Christ to the Romans, and for that reason he describes Him as the mighty worker, the faithful "Servant of the Lord," the One Who does the will of God perfectly. It is the Gospel of activity, being crowded with action, with deeds rather than words. Pre-eminently a Gospel for this rushing, busy age, which certainly may be described as being "driven" rather than "led." Continually we hear the emphasis hud upon the fact that the calhng of every disciple of the Lord is to serve and not to be served. Therefore, the Commission as presented in Mark also bears the form : "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." The disciples are to go into the whole world and preach the Gospel not merely to men and women, which is, of course, fundamental, but thru them to the whole creation. For thru the renewed man the whole creation is affected and redeemed as it passes under the dominion of love. Thus we find the answer to the second need of the world; the entering into creation that groaneth and travaileth in pain; thru sacrificial service, with the message of healing and renewal.

Luke gives us the Gospel as it would effectively appeal to the Greeks, who idolized humanity. Christ is here presented in the largest human relations. He is the ideal man, the perfection of mankind, the Son of man. Consequently Luke records the Commission: "Ye are witnesses of these things. . . .but tarry ye. . . .until ye be clothed with power from on high.'' Christ, victorious in life and in death, must be made manifest thru His victory in our lives. This answers to the third note in the world's need: the consciousness of inability to realize the highest, to do the noblest, to be the best; by demonstrating Christ's ability not only in His own but also in our lives. We, who by nature must

• IN HOGAN AND PUEBLO 2i.

confess: "If we would do good, evil is present,' must now, as witnesses of Jesus' power, be able to say : "We can do all things in Him that strengtheneth us." Wherever we are, in home or office, in shop or factory, in our own country or abroad, we must be credentials, demonstrations, samples of Christ, answering the world's cry of inability with a perpetual song of ability.

The express purpose of John in his Gospel is to present those elements of Christ's life which tend to prove the Deity of the Savior. He is equal with God, one with God, really God. And living in this realization of the Godhead of Jesus, the Apostle of love hears the mystic wordg of the Great Commission that the others failed to chronicle, probably because they so little understood their meaning. "As the Father hath

sent Me, even so send I you " As He came

into the world to reveal and make known the Father, which revelation included the work whereby sin may be forgiven, so He now sends His disciples into the world in the power of the accomplished work to exercise the great and holy function of remitting and retaining sins.

Thus the Church is called today to carry out the Great Commission in the spirit of the Lord. It is in reality simply entering upon and continuing His work, which is summarized in Matthew in these words : "Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people." Because of these three forms of activity and service, Christ is known as the Great Teacher, the Great Physician, and the Incomparable Preacher. Thorwaldsen's piece of sculpture in heroic size, representing Christ as the "Divine Healer," with matchless compassion upon His face, at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, in Baltimore, is a benediction to the suffering humanity that goes there, for it silently but strikingly reminds it of the Source of all healing, life, and love.

No one who studies the present world situation will deny, that if ever, then, today the world needs the message of Christ and His accomplished salvation. In the midst of the present universal unrest, there is nothing that can bring calmness and peace but the realization that thru Christ we are reconciled with the Sovereign God, Who holds the destinies of nations and races in the hollow of His hand. When we read how there is a tendency at the present time to stress the cause of medical, social, and industrial missions instead of the evangelistic, we are unable to quiet the voice that warns us of the danger of substituting "another gospel" for the Gospel of Christ.

We, who believe in the sovereignty of God, and in the responsibility of man, should not we feel as if in the situation that obtains today thruout the world, our God, too long denied, is simply unsettling mankind in order that He may show them the way of true peace? God, the Almighty and All-wise, has a program, and that program is being carried out. This world is not running by chance. God's power is sufficient for all things and His love is forever the same. It behooves all of us, therefore, who are called by the name of His Christ and profess to be His children, to study His program, to submit to His guidance and to co-operate whole-heartedly in His plan for giving the whole Gospel to the whole world.

II. The Christian Reformed Church And Missions

IWI ANY TIMES we have been told both by men ^^ ^ within and by men without our circle, that the Christian Reformed Church is lacking in Mission spirit. Upon closer questioning and investigation we found that this expression of criticism rested especially upon two things; first, the Christian Reformed Church was unreasonably and most unjustly compared, as to its mission activities, with her older and larger sister denomination known as the Reformed Church of America, and, secondly, all home work was discounted and it was emphasized that there was no representative of ours on the Foreign field, in other words, the Christian Reformed Church did not take part in the great cause of Foreign Missions. The lack of a Mission spirit would very naturally cut to the very quick any true son or daughter of the Church, for it cannot be denied, a non-missionary Church has no right of existence, and according to an inexorable law it must languish and ultimately die. It would not be difficult at all to give examples of this from the history of the Church thruout the ages. Oh! that critics might fully understand that to ascribe the lack of Mission spirit to a Church is to doom that Church to death. And, oh ! that the members of a Church might fully understand that the very life of a Church, as well as the life of every individual christian, exists in its missionary activities. The christian faith as represented in and by a Church simply must propagate itself or die a dishonorable death. May there, therefore, be a continual increase in our consecration to and in our prayers and gifts for the cause which is the business of the Church. For well hath it been said, "Missions is not a part of the benevolence but the business of the Church."

But to return to the criticism mentioned above. We set ourselves to investigate the two facts upon which it rests. We congratulate our sister Church upon her splendid activities in China, India, Japan, and Arabia. We always read with intense interest and delight the magazines and pamphlets which tell us of this work. The names of Zwemer, Chamberlain, Pieters and Warnshuis, to mention no others, are as dear to us, for their work's sake, as they can possibly be to any member of the Church which they represent. Probably because of the bands of the Reformed faith and of nationality we feel closely akin to them, and with our sister Church we are proud, with a holy pride, of their endeavors and splendid achievements on the Foreign fields mentioned. This Church, which has by the grace of God, given such valuable men to the cause; this Church, which manifests such a laudable zeal for Missions at home and abroad; this Church, was not ever thus. Let us not forget nor overlook that. Just recently in perusing the history of this Church by one of its honored fathers, the Rev. N. H. Dosker, we found in one of the chapters a defense of the Church against this same criticism. Then it was hurled at them, as now it is applied to us. And his defense is along the same lines that we would follow if we were going to offer a defense. The church at home must first be strong and continually become stronger if it is going to have and adequately support an ever-increasing work on the Foreign field. We have ample faith to believe that the day is not far distant when our Foreign work, comparatively speaking, is going to be second to none, either in the number and calibre of the men and women sent forth, or in the financial support by which they are backed up at home. The history of our Church in its revelation and record of the Mission spirit among us, and our personal faith in the constituency of our churches, fills us with a glowing hope for the future. And it is just because of this that we cast far from us the criticism that the Christian Reformed Church is lacking in Missionary spirit.

To the lasting honor of our fathers it must be said that already at the second Classical meeting, held in the year of the birth of our Church, 1857, the cause of Missions was a matter of discussion, and it was decided that on the first

Monday of each month a prayer-meeting should be held, and that at these meetings an offering should be made for Bible distribution. Would to God that this decision of the fathers might be revived today and lived up to. What an inspiration, encouragement, and incentive it would be to our representatives on the Home and Foreign fields to know that regularly, once a month, on the same evening, in every Christian Reformed church they and their work were being carried in united prayer to the Throne above, whence comcth all our help and every blessing. Having no Foreign work of their own, our fathers decided to send their offerings to the churches of the Netherlands to assist them in their work, but such a second-hand activity could not inspire and enthuse, and consequently languished and died. Other efforts to collect moneys without a definite purpose were also, and that very naturally, more or less a failure.

During this time, however, the work of church extension at home was prosecuted with great zeal. These men of old did not spare themselves to visit unchurched communities and when- and wherever possible establish churches of the same faith as their own. They were not concerned about financial remuneration for their efforts, but their love for the cause gave them courage and readiness to bear the heat of the day and the cold of night in the work of the Lord. We younger men, who to a great extent have entered upon what they have wrought, should ever remember this, and at our church meetings we should show deference to the few old veterans still abiding with us. The long list of Home Missionaries, from the beginning of our church-life unto the present day, testifies to the spirit of sacrifice and love. Due to the strengthening and extension of the home church by the blessings of the Lord thru these Mission activities, the desire was awakened more and more to cast the Gospel net also into the deep darkness of the Heathen world, and to sow the seed of the Word in virgin soil. But whither shall we go, and to whom shall we first extend the invitation?

Behold! That question employed the thoughts of many minds for many years. There was so little unanimity of thought on that question that it verily seemed that every leader had his own particular choice of field or work. One desired to co-operate with the churches of the Netherlands in their Missions on Java; another supported the idea of an own Mission on foreign shores; a third favored the supporting of Missions already established by churches of like faith and polity; still another, to mention no more, wanted to labor among the Negroes in our own Southland. In 1886, however, unexpectedly and to the surprise of many, the attention of the Church was directed to the Aborigines of our own beloved United States. It seemed to thrill the hearts of the majority, "we need not go afar, we have the heathen at our very door who have never heard of the blessed name of Jesus, and the big Churches of our land engaged extensively on foreign shores, are forgetting those at hoine, living in the same dense darkness of superstition and idolatry." And then, what added zest to the appeal to bring the glad tidings of salvation to the Red Men was the conscious national responsibility of being especially indebted to them because we were occupying and holding as our own their former homes and hunting grounds. For the material we would return the spiritual!

After having supported the Rev. J. Kruidenier, missionary of the United Presbyterian Church in Egypt, to the extent of -^400.00 annually, it was decided for the present to limit our activities to the Indians or Negroes of our own land. When a couple of unheeded calls had been extended to ministers of our Church, to the joy of the committee charged with the regulation and oversight of the work, the Rev. T. M. Van den Bosch offered himself as Missionary. Things were still very indefinite, however, even when installed it was not sure whether his field would be in Oklalioma or Indian Territory, or whether he would labor among the Indians or Negroes. Because of discouraging reports from the Indian Territory it was deemed best to send him to the Rosebud Agency in the Dakotas, but he was left to blaze the trail for himself. He was set aside for this work on the 23rd of October, 1889, and immediately set forth. Meeting with many and various disappointments in trying to start a w^ork among the great Sioux tribe of Dakota, receiving word that there was no opening for him in Oklahoma, and considering the Winnebago tribe in Nebraska amply provided for, he lost all heart and courage, therefore, upon his request in September, 1890, less than one year after he went out, he received his discharge as Missionary to the Heathen. This failure, however distressing to the lovers of a Mission to the Indians, was not sufficient to dampen their ardor. They continued to foster the interest already awakened, and they did not cease to labor in the hope of some day realizing their desire. In the meantime work among our own scattered people and among the Jews was prosecuted with laudable zeal.