# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1902_S31 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) i Ee I ‘Vhe Lutheran Pioneer. a ee Se CP ee 31 The Persecutor’s Fate. Dr. Eugenio Kincaid, the Burman mission- | ary, states that, among the first converts in Ava, were two men who had held respectable offices about the palace. Some time after they had been baptized, a neighbor determined to report them to the government, and drew up a paper setting forth that these two men had forsaken the customs and religion of their fathers, were worshiping the foreigner’s God, and went every Sunday to the teacher’s house ; with other similar charges. He presented the} paper to the neighbors of the two disciples, tak- ing their names as witnesses, and saying that he should go and present the accusation on the next day. The two Christians heard of it, and went to lees Indian friends of the deceased filed into} the room, and as they passed the casket one after another was heard to say in a depressed | tone, ‘‘Friend and fellow.’? Then they took up their positions round about the casket. A prayer and the reading of a Scripture passage | followed, after which the favorite hymn of the | deceased was sung, which was, ‘‘Nearer, My God, to Thee.’’ Dark Cloud then spoke in eulogy of the deceased, and then gave utter- ance also to the Indian’s conception of the ““Great Spirit.’’ In the course of his address he made some remarks which should be well considered by such as call themselves Christians, but deny their God and Saviour by their works. He said, ‘‘I am not boasting, but it is true that there is no profane word in any Indian lan- Mr. Kincaid in great alarm, to consult as to| guage. We marvel at God’s works, and won- what they should do. They said if they were accused to the government, the mildest sentence they could expect would be imprisonment for life at hard labor, and per- haps they would be killed. Kincaid told them that they could not flee from Ava, if they would; that he saw nothing he could do for them, and all. that they could do was to trust in God. He then knelt with them, and be- sought God to protect them and deliver them from the power of their enemies. They also prayed, and soon left Kincaid, saying that they felt more calm, and could leave the matter with God. That night the persecutor was attacked by a dreadful disease in the bowels, which so distressed him that he roared like a mad- man; and his friends, which is too often the case with the heathen, left him to suffer and die alone. ‘The two Christians whom he would have ruined then went and took care of him till he died, two or three days after his attack. The whole affair was well known in the neigh- borhood, and from that time not a dog dared move his tongue against the Christians of Ava. Is there no evidence in this of a special provi- dence, and that God listens to the prayers of His persecuted and distressed children? Hi. L. Hastings. _—_=-—P oe A Timely Rebuke. Evans Bradby, the last of the direct de- scendants of the once powerful Indian chief Powhatan, died but a short time since. A number of his Indian friends witnessed the funeral ceremonies. The chief service lay in the hands of Aiga Tahament, the medicine man of the Seneca tribe. Just before the beginning of the service a A Village in Africa. der that the paleface dares to speak lightly of the Ruler of the lightning, the flood, the gun, moon, and stars, and that in anger he dares to use the name of the one who in His anger can destroy all.”” J. K. ——— Worthy of Imitation. Elizabeth Pellit, a widow lady, recently died in New York. Her home was in the hall room of a tenement house, and, at her death, all her earthly possessions could be put in one com- mon trunk. No executor or administrator was needed. Living in narrow circumstances, she had denied herself all luxuries, even many comforts. Butin the forty years of her Chris- tian life she had given $30,000 to the work of the Lord. She had supplied the money to send a missionary to San Salvador, and also for another who is to go soon. Did you say she needed no administrator ? It was because the Holy Spirit had administered upon her estate|in the name of the Lord, and He will be her reward in heaven. — Selected. Why He Could not Burn them. A little boy came from school, carrying a Bible, when a priest met him with the ques- tion: ‘‘Do you attend that Protestant school yonder?”’ ‘I do,’’ was the reply. ‘‘I thought so,’’ rejoined the priest, ‘‘judging by the book you have there. That is a bad book. Better let me have it.’’ ‘That book is God’s Word,”’ protested the little fellow. ‘‘It teaches us how to obtain God’s favor, and how to be saved and go to heaven when we die.’’ ‘‘Come along with me,’ demanded the priest. The boy obeyed. Upon entering his study, the priest took the poor boy’s Bible and threw it into the fire, saying, ‘‘You shall never read that book again. It is a bad book; and remember, I do not want you to attend that school any more.’’ Seeing his Bible consumed by the fire, the boy first looked very sad, but when the priest turned to him with a satisfied air, remarking, ‘‘Now the thing is gone,’’ the lad be- gan to smile. ‘‘What are you laughing at?’’ sternly asked the priest. ‘‘I cannot help it,’’ was the answer. “Tell me, what you are laughing for,’’ reiterated the priest. ‘‘I cannot help it,’’ said the boy. ‘‘I was just thinking that you cannot burn those ten chapters I got by heart.’’ Happy, indeed, are the children who have such heay- enly treasures stored away in their hearts, where no- body can get at them. God is Just. In Jerusalem there lived in the twelfth cen- tury a pious bishop by the name of Narcissus. Charges of the weightiest kind were brought against him by three men. These charges were, however, utterly false and without all foundation. Being put under oath, the first wretch declared that heaven should deyour him if he spoke not the truth; the second said, ‘‘May the plague destroy me, if I speak not what is true;’’ and the third wished to be struck blind if he spoke what was false. Narcissus was deposed from his office. Years passed; but a just God reigns above. The first accuser was one day killed by light- ning, the second was carried away by a plague, and the third, overwhelmed by the awfulness of his sin, wept day and night, and finally be- came blind. ‘‘Vengeance is mine; I will re- pay, saith the Lord,” Rom. 12) 19. ers a 0 ‘Wuat joyful blessing this must be, To lead a soul, my God, to Thee!?