# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1891_S22 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 22 The Lutheran Pioneer. ee eeoeoeoeoeeoeoeeoeoeooeoeaeaeaeaeaeeeeeeeeeeeeoes=S SSS ———————SV—\—\—49o With the Lord. field, preparing young men for the Gospel | boy and a blind girl. Some days afterwards ministry. The many students that have sat at|the missionary came again: this time the boy The picture which you see in this number | his feet are witnesses to his disinterested labors, | was gone and only the blind girl was there. of the ProNEER is a picture of the late Prof.|his untiring zeal, his great faithfulness, his|‘‘ Where is your boy?’ said he to the mother. A. Craemer, who departed this life at Spring-| wonderful energy and eelf-denial. His aim at|‘‘I have thrown him into the river Ganges,” field, Ill., May 3, 1891. Our- Pioneer is a| all times was to fill his students with the true|said the poor mother. ‘‘I did it to appease my missionary monthly, and we gladly comply) oissiona:y, spirit, so that they in all their labors | god.’’ The missionary heard the woman’s an- with the request of some of our readers by | might say, “The love of Christ constraineth | swer with a shudder. ‘‘But,’’ said he, ‘if you presenting the picture of a man who has been/|us.’’ He would often say to them: If you} really must make an offering to your god, why a zealous laborer in the mission work of our| must live in the most miserable hut, and have | did you not offer your blind girl?’’ ‘‘O,’’ said Lutheran Church in America. | nothing else to eat than bread and salt, and | the woman, ‘‘it would have only made my god The Rev. A. Craemer came to this country | nothing else to drink than water, you must not| more angry, if I had not given him the best.’’ in the year 1845 with a small colony of German | consider that a great sacrifice, but must thank And then she cried out in the anguish of her Lutherans, to carry on mission work among the| God upon your knees that you are considered | heart again and again, ‘‘My dear sweet boy! Indians. He settled in the northern part of | worthy to labor in His Church for the salvation | My dear sweet boy!”’ Michigan and labored among the Chippewa | of immortal soule: So the heathen think about giving. They tribe. One of the Indian chiefs was astonished| In the true missionary spirit he himself | must offer to an angry god the very best they that a man had come “‘from a far-off country | labored faithfully, And now the Lord has|have, to appease his'anger and to make peace to do good to the Indians.’’ These soon learned to Jove the missionary, who spoke to them of the way of salvation and gath- ered their children in his cabin, where he daily instructed them in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and taught them Bible stories, the catechism, and Christian hymns. His heart rejoiced when his first Indian © pupils had advanced so far as to be able to recite the principal parts of Luther's catechism and to sing the grand old Lu- theran hymns. He labored under many difficulties, but with a joyful heart; for he loved the wild children of the wilder- ness. When he for the first time attended the sessions of synod and returned to his field of labor after an absence of a few weeks, his greatest joy was to see the In- dian children, as he neared his dwelling, come rushing towards him with joyful faces and jubilant voices, welcoming their “ beloved missionary home. He earnestly appealed to the churches for support of this important mission work, upon which the blessing of God was evi- dently resting. And when asked how a greater zeal for mission work might be awakened among the people, his reply was: Preach the Word, which isa power of God! Depict in living colorsthe deep misery of sin, so that the hearers become alarmed at their sinful state. Then preach also the Gospel in all its sweetness, point- ing the people to Christ crucified, so that they come to a living faith in their Saviour. From the knowledge of their own misery of sin they will come to know the great spiritual misery of the Indian heathen, and by faith in their Saviour they will become cheerful and willing givers—givers who will not look upon their contributions as great sacrifices, but who will thank God that they are considered worthy to help in the spread of the Gospel by which they have been saved. Thus their gifts will be a blessing, not only to the heathen, but also to themselves. In 1850 the Rev. Craemer received an urgent call as Professor in our Lutheran Practical Seminary. He accepted the call and for forty ; years faithfully labored for our Home Mission Prof. A. Craemer. called His faithful servant home to his eternal rest. Trusting only in the grace of Jesus he fell asleep. His soul entered the eternal joys of heaven, and his body is resting in the grave until Jesus comes. And He will soon come. As the faithful witnesses, who ‘‘shine as lights in the world,” are disappearing, those who know the word of God rejoice in the increasing evidence that the dawn of the resurrection morning is at hand; ‘‘For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry,’ (Heb. 10, 37); ‘‘He which testifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly; Amen. Even s0, come, Lord Jesus,’’ (Rev. 22, 20). ——s ~