Chapter 11 The Wisdom Of The Dead On the morrow Owen baptised the king

Chapter 11 The Wisdom Of The Dead
On the morrow Owen baptised the king, many of his councillors, andsome twenty others whom he considered fit to receive the rite. Also hedespatched his first convert John, with other messengers, on a threemonths' journey to the coast, giving them letters acquainting thebishop and others with his marvellous success, and praying thatmissionaries might be sent to assist him in his labours.
　　Now day by day the Church grew till it numbered hundreds of souls, andthousands more hovered on its threshold. From dawn to dark Owentoiled, preaching, exhorting, confessing, gathering in his harvest;and from dark to midnight he pored over his translation of theScriptures, teaching Nodwengo and a few others how to read and writethem. But although his efforts were crowned with so signal andextraordinary a triumph, he was well aware of the dangers thatthreatened the life of the infant Church. Many accepted it indeed, andstill more tolerated it; but there remained multitudes who regardedthe new religion with suspicion and veiled hatred. Nor was thisstrange, seeing that the hearts of men are not changed in an hour ortheir ancient customs easily overset.
　　On one point, indeed, Owen had to give way. The Amasuka were apolygamous people; all their law and traditions were interwoven withpolygamy, and to abolish that institution suddenly and with violencewould have brought their social fabric to the ground. Now, as he knewwell, the missionary Church declares in effect that no man can be botha Christian and a polygamist; therefore among the followers of thatcustom the missionary Church makes but little progress. Not withoutmany qualms and hesitations, Owen, having only the Scriptures toconsult, came to a compromise with his converts. If a man alreadymarried to more than one wife wished to become a Christian, hepermitted him to do so upon the condition that he took no more wives;while a man unmarried at the time of his conversion might take onewife only. This decree, liberal as it was, caused greatdissatisfaction among both men and women,cheap jeremy scott adidas wings. But it was as nothingcompared to the feeling that was evoked by Owen's preaching againstall war not undertaken in self-defence, and against the strict lawswhich he prevailed upon the king to pass, suppressing the practice ofwizardry, and declaring the chief or doctor who caused a man to be"smelt out" and killed upon charges of witchcraft to be guilty ofmurder.
　　At first whenever Owen went abroad he was surrounded by thousands ofpeople who followed him in the expectation that he would workmiracles,Moncler Sale, which, after his exploits with the lightning, they were wellpersuaded that he could do if he chose. But he worked no moremiracles; he only preached to them a doctrine adverse to their customsand foreign to their thoughts.
　　So it came about that in time, when the novelty was gone off and thestory of his victory over the Fire-god had grown stale, although thework of conversion went on steadily, many of the people grew weary ofthe white man and his doctrines,Jeremy Scott Adidas Wings. Soon this weariness found expressionin various ways, and in none more markedly than by the constantdesertions from the ranks of the king's regiments. At first, by Owen'sadvice, the king tolerated these desertions; but at length, havingobtained information that an entire regiment purposed absconding atdawn, he caused it to be surrounded and seized by night. Next morninghe addressed that regiment, saying:--"Soldiers,moncler winter outwear jackets, you think that because I have become a Christian and willnot permit unnecessary bloodshed, I am also become a fool. I willteach you otherwise. One man in every twenty of you shall be killed,and henceforth any soldier who attempts to desert will be killedalso!"The order was carried out, for Owen could not find a word to sayagainst it, with the result that desertions almost ceased, though notbefore the king had lost some eight or nine thousand of his bestsoldiers. Worst of all, these soldiers had gone to join Hafela in hismountain fastnesses; and the rumour grew that ere long they wouldappear again, to claim the crown for him or to take it by force ofarms.