# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1886_S48 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 48 The Lutheran Pioneer. ted, the largest of all in the district. Duke Vladimir, whose wife is 2 German princess, attended the services and presented the con- gregation with the gift of $30,000. — Wnaen Mr. Tennent was traveling in Vir- ginia, he lodged one night at the house of a planter who informed him that one of his slaves, 2 man upward of seventy, who could neither read nor write, was yet eminently dis- tinguished for his piety and for his knowledge of the Scriptures. Having some curiosity to learn what evidence such a man could have of their divine origin, he went out in the morning, alone, and without making himself known as a clergyman, entered into conversation with him on the subject. After stating some of the common objections of infidels against the au- thenticity of the Scriptures, in a way calculated to confound an ignorant man, he said to him, “When you cannot even read the Bible, nor examine the evidence for or against its truth, how can you know that it is the word of God?”’ After reflecting a moment, the negro replied: ‘*You ask me, sir, how I know the Bible is the word of God: I know it by its effect upon my own heart.’ —OnzE of the officers of the English army, in Egypt, asked an Egyptian why he believed in the Mahdi, the false prophet, and the an- swer was, because he can work miracles. The The Outlook from the Editor’s Window. —TueE present issue closes the volume of our LurseRaNn PionEER for 1886. Our Pio- NEER has grown up to be a bright little boy of eight years. His stockings are now larger. than they were in the past; and as he hangs them up in the merry Christmas season, he expects a Christmas gift from all our readers and friends. He is a very modest little fellow and all he expects from every reader is the name of a new subscriber for the next volume. Now fill up the stockings with your Christmas gifts! Please don’t disappoint the dear little chap. It would make him so sad, you know, to take down these stockings without finding his Christmas giftin them. He gladly promises to be a good boy in the future, to make his monthly trip more regularly than in the past year, and to be better than in the years gone by. —Tuar was a good answer given by old uncle Ned on Christmas day. He was out in the garden singing songs of joy over the glad Christmas news of a new-born Saviour. Some one said to him, ‘‘ You seem happy to-day, old uncle!’’ ‘Yes, massa, I’se jus’ tinking,” said uncle Ned. ‘‘ What are you thinking of?” asked the gentleman. ‘‘O,’’ said old uncle, se jus’ tinking ef de Christmas crumbs that fall from the Master’s table in dis world am so good, what will de great loaf in glory be?”’ —A Missionary in China writes home that what an American family throws away in a year would keep a dozen Chinese families; and what a Chinese family throws away in the same time would not feed a mouse. —Youne McCall, of the Livingstone Congo Mission, as he lay.dying, prayed, ‘‘Lord, I give myself, body, mind and soul to Thee. I con- secrated my whole life and being to Thy ser- vice; and now, if it please Thee to take myself, instead of the work which I would do for Thee, what is that tome? Thy will be done.”’ —In one of the great heathen temples in Japan, the devotion of the worshipers consists in running around the building one hundred times, and dropping a piece of wood into a box at each round, when, the wearisome exertion being ended, the worshiper goes home tired and very happy at the thought of having done his god such worthy service. Are there not some ‘‘Christians’’ whose activity is very simi- lar to this, and of about as much value? They are ever on the street, running to all sorts of meetings, and ever bustling and hyrrying from place to place. ‘They feel and talk as if they were rendering most valuable service, and solace themselves in their weariness with the comfort that they are doing great good and will have rich reward. Yet really they are accom- plishing nothing. Their exhausting labor is really only running round and round the tem- ple; no cause is advanced by it, God’s name is not honored in it. : _ —Jw Slawauka, near St. Petersburg, 2 new a Finnish Lutheran Church has been consecra- place. that?’’ he asked. The Egyptian was appalled, and could not say a word. —THERE is now a railway in Asia Minor which traverses. some of the country in which the Apostle Paul performed his missionary labors. It runs near the sites of several of the ‘«Seven Churches,’”’ mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Trains leave Smyrna three times a day. —Tse Lutheran Church in Finland, for some years past, has been successfully carry- ing on a mission in South Africa. This mis- sion recently received a reinforcement of four missionaries. —AND now, as we close our window, the little PronEER with his bright’ blue eyes and a sweet catching smile reminds all our readers not to forget that Christmas gift for him in this merry Christmas season. He wishes them all A Harry Curistaas! | <> + 0a 0 + oe (For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer.’?) English Lutheran Conference in Missouri. Our ‘English Lutheran Conference of Mis- souri”’ recently met in annual session in Barton Co., Mo. This Conference comprises seven pastors and congregations, all in ‘perfect har- mony with the Synodical Conference, as to doctrine and practice. The reader can gather this much from our doctrinal discussions at the last convention. The first thesis we spoke on officer, having a glass eye, took it out, tossed it |)’ up in the air, caught it and put it back in its}! “Do you think the Mahdi could do|’ reads: A truly Lutheran congregation acknowl- edges all power of the Church to be vested in the congregation of true believers, and, con- sequently, rejects all authority of the clergy, or man in general, in matters of doctrine and con- science. It was shown that the ‘‘ power of the Church’ is of aspiritual nature and consists prin- cipally in the exercise of the Office of the Keys. This power of remitting and retaining sin is en- trusted to the pastors by ‘‘the congregation of true believers,’ and ministers exercise it by virtue of their office and in the name of the Tri- une God. The second thesis was on ‘‘close communion.’’ Our reasons for practicing it were fully stated and can be learned in detail from the minutes shortly to appear in print at Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo. At this session we were happy to receive as an additional member Rey. Wm. Dallmann of the St. Paul’s Congregation, Webster Co., Mo. —tThere will now be two missionaries active on the English mission field. May they find an abundant harvest. A. M.