# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1911_S28 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) A Captive’s Easter. Many years ago a German youth was taken prisoner by the Turks, and as nothing was done for his release, he’ was compelled to live among these fanatical followers of the false prophet Mo- hammed, and to work as a captive slave for a Turkish master. But he never gave up his Lu- theran faith. He put all his trust in Jesus, the blessed Savior, who died -for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. One Easter morning he had to plow his Turkish master’s field, but none the less as he followed the plow he kept the great festival day in mind, and The Lutheran Pioneer. away from my fellow Christians, yet I in spirit cele. brate with them the joyous resurrection festival.” The officer of the German government succeeded in obtaining the man’s freedom, and the former slave went back to his own Christian country, where he lived to celebrate many an Easter Day with the followers of the risen Lord. ial “The Blind Shall See.’’ “One evening about sundown,” says the Rev. Kincaid, a missionary to India, “I stopped at a city on the Irawaddy. I sat on the boat, a short dis- Waele ace REN SS THE EASTER MESSENGER. his heart rejoiced in the risen Lord. As he walked in the furrow behind the plow, he sang in his mother tongue one of Luther’s good old Easter hymns: Jesus Christ to-day is risen, And o’er Death triumphant reigns; He has burst the grave’s strong prison) Leading Sin herself in chains. At that moment the representative of the Ger- man government, who was stationed at Constanti- nople, happened to be riding by. Surprised at ’ hearing a German church hymn in that Jand and place, he got out of his carriage and went to the singer. The man told him his story and closed by saying: “I don’t think that I shall ever be able to go back to my fatherland, but I shall keep my Christian faith, though I live among Turks. I know that this is Easter Day, and though I am far tance from the bank, and began to read from my tracts. The people sat on the shore; some, how- ever, went to the town to say that a foreign teacher had come. ‘The crowd increased, and I read on till sundown. At length a tall young man came wad- ing to the boat and said, “Teacher, have you the Acts of the Apostles? Imagine my surprise at hearing such a question in that place. I replied, ‘Yes.’ He said again, “Teacher, have you the Gos- pel of John?’ He was evidently well educated; I asked, therefore, ‘How did you learn about these books?’ He told me that long ago his grandfather had obtained them from Mr. Judson, but had lost them in a great fire; and now, hearing of the - foreign teacher, the old man had sent him in the hope of getting them again. I complied with his request, and he hastened away.