# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1894_S23 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) "The Lutheran Pioneer. 23 A Story of the New Hebrides. By Dr. Parton. Could I take you down to these islands, and let you see the triumphs of the Gospel there, you would be stirred as you have never been stirred before. One missionary and his wife labored for thirteen years. He and his wife sowed the Gospel with tears, amid much per- secution and opposition. This missionary at last got heartbroken to see the want of suc- ‘cess, and he came to us and pleaded with us to let him go to one of the other islands where the people were crying out for a mis- sionary. But we said to him, ‘‘You have ac- quired the language in the island where you are placed, and translated the New Testament into it, and we could have no one that weuld gain your influence there for many years to come. Hold on, and we will all pray for you that God's Spirit may be poured out upon our work, and we hope ere long that you will have cause to praise God for the triumphs of the Gospel of His love.’’ The missionary and his _ Wife returned to their former sphere, but when they returned a fight had taken place between the slayers and the natives. The missionaries were greatly disheartened. Moreover, the old chief got angry with some of his own people, and was determined that if they would not confess some wrong they had done, he would coerce them by war. One morning the mis- sionaries heard the yells of savages approach- ing, and believing their intention was to mur- der them, they, with their children, entered a boat at once and set off with all possible speed. It was told the old warrior, however, that the missionary and his wife and children were leaving. He then ran down to the beach and called out to them, ‘‘Come back; if you do _not I will send my swiftest canoe after you and shoot you every one.’’ The missionary’s wife said in tears to her husband, ‘‘Have we not risked our lives these many years for them and suffered much amongst them? That may be God’s voice that we hear in that old savage. He cries ‘Come back:’ let us commit ourselves to God in prayer, and let us turn back and leave the results entirely to Jesus, and if we and our children are all murdered, oh, the joy of getting into heaven at the same moment with them all!’’? And then they prayed as men will only pray when on the verge of eternity. Oh, friends, it is not in the police, or in the arm of law, that we missionaries trust in the hour of danger and difficulty, but it is in throwing ourselves upon the promises of Him who said, ‘‘Whatever ye shall ask in My name, I will do it.’’ Therefore, that missionary and his wife poured out their hearts to God in prayer. he boat was turned, and the old chief saw where it was to land on the beach. He ran down to.the spot, and there stood with his great club drawn, as if to strike the first that came ashore. The boat hesitated for a moment, but the missionary’s wife, picking up aa the baby and coming to the front of the boat, committed her all to Jesus. When she landed, the old savage swung his club over her head. But he said to his men, ‘‘Do not strike them ; we will finish our own work to-day, and we will close them in their own house, and come back to-morrow and dispose of them.’’ He thereupon drove them up to the house, and left them there for the night. But that was a night spent in prayer, and when the morning came they were resigned, in the arms of Jesus. The old chief came back soon after daylight, and called, ‘‘Come out, I am prepared for you now.’’ He looked at the crying children and sorrowful parents, yet, not sorrowing ‘‘as those that have no hope.’’ They stood for a few minutes in silence, and then the chief said, ‘‘Before I begin, I want to ask you a question. How could you come on shore as you did when you saw us there to murder you? Had we been in the boat in your position we would have tried to escape. How could you do as you did? Tell me that before I begin.’’ The missionary’s wife, in tears, said, ‘‘Our Jehovah God helped us to do what we did. You called on us to come back. We came back at your request, and now we are in your hands; but if you murder us you murder those who love you and who would die for you; of which we have given you ample evidence, and who wish to make you happy.’”’ The old man stood looking at them for a few minutes, and then he sat down and said, ‘‘Sit down beside me,’”’ and they sat down. ‘‘Now,’’ he said, ‘‘tell me of that God that so helps you in your difficulty and danger; our god never nerves us in that way.’’ ‘They then told the story of God’s love and mercy, and of Christ dying for poor sinners, and suddenly the old man.stopped them and said, ‘‘What! A God of love and mercy! A God who came to die for me! Can I be interested in that God’s death, and that salvation? Make it plain. Begin again.’’ And so they spent the day in tears and prayer, while the Holy Spirit wrought in the poor old savage’s heart. And at last he said, ‘‘I think I see through it now; I think I understand it, and the God that nerved you shall henceforth be my God. I am a wor- shiper of the Jehovah God, and I will live with you henceforth, and I will help you, and we will conquer this island for the dear Saviour.”’ : And the work went on, and now, could I take you down to that island, you would see there a large church built by these cannibals, now all Christians, and you would find there over two thousand worshipers of the living God. of the boys was noticed aside from the others, and apparently very busy with a cast-off gar- ment. The superintendent stepped up to him, and found that he was cutting a small piece out of the patched linings. It proved to be his old jacket, which, having been replaced by a new one, had been thrown away. There was no time to be lost: ‘Come, John, come,”’ said the Superintend- ent, ‘‘what are you going to do with that old piece of calico?’’ ‘Please, sir,’’ said John, ‘‘I am cutting it to take with me. My dead mother put the lining in this old jacket for me. This was a piece of her dress, and it is all I have to re- member her by.’’ And as the poor boy thought of that dear mother’s love, and of the sad death-scene in the garret where she died, he covered his face with his hands, and sobbed as if his heart would break. But the train was about leaving, and John thrust the little piece of calico into his bosom to remember his mother by, hurried into a car, and was soon far away from the place where he had known so much sorrow. Little readers, are your mothers still spared to you? Will you not show your love by obe- dience? That little boy who loved so well, we are’sure, obeyed. Bear this in mind, that if you should one day have to look upon the face of a dead mother, no thought would be so bit- ter as to remember that you had given her’ pain by your wilfulness or disobedience. 0. S. P. ——>~+ oo + A Beautiful Answer. A happy illustration of the wonderful char- acter of the Bible was given at an examination of a deaf-and-dumb institution some years ago in London. “ A little boy was asked in writing: ‘Who made the world?’’ He took the chalk and wrote underneath the words, ‘‘In the begin- ning God created the heaven and the earth.’’ The clergyman then inquired in a similar manner, ‘‘Why did Jesus Christ come into the world?’” A smile of gratitude rested on the countenance of the little fellow as he wrote, ‘‘This is a true saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’’ A third question was asked, evidently adapted to call the most you born deaf and dumb, when I hear and speak?’? —‘‘Never,’’ says an eye witness, “shall I forget the look of resignation which sat upon his countenance as he again took the chalk and wrote, ‘Even so, Father, for so it seems good in Thy sight.’’’— Fachange. ————.2 oo A Touching Incident. —_—— ~