The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1881, Page 27

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 27

The Christian’s Clock. The widow’s reply was simple and beautiful.
“That means Tried and Proved. For many
years past I have come to this Bible for instruc-
tion and comfort, and have always found what
Isought. It has never failed me. It was in
its blessed pages that, through the Holy Spirit’s
help, I found myself to be a lost and ruined
creature; a sinner by nature and practice; ex-
posed to the wrath of God without being able
to save myself; and here I also learned that
Jesus was mighty to save. I read His own sweet
words of invitation, ‘Come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy Jaden, and I will give you
rest.’ I believe that He meant what He said.
I cast my helpless soul upon Him, and found
salvation, found the rest He had promised, and
proved His faithfulness; and at the side of that
invitation and promise I wrote my first ‘7.’
and ‘P.’

“He promised His disciples that if they asked
they should receive. I have asked Him for
blessings, and He did not let me ask in vain.
I became a widow, and my children were
fatherless. My heart was full of bitterness
and sorrow. I read these blessed words:
‘Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve
them alive; and let thy widows trust in me.’
‘A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the
widows, is God in His holy habitation.’ Trust-
ing myself and my children to His care, I found
God was faithful; and here in both cases you
see I have written ‘7.’ and ‘P.’

‘‘T have ‘had troubles and sorrows, yet, in
the midst of all, I have never been left without
comfort. I have trusted in God’s promise, and
have ever found it fulfilled. I have based my
faith upon the Bible, and have never found it
fail me; therefore my Z.’s and P.’s are my tes-
timonies to the faithfulness of my Father in
heaven. And the book whose promises have
been so richly fulfilled in my experience in this
life will be as worthy of my trust in respect to
all the future life, on which it has made my
soul to hope, and therefore this holy Bible is
precious to my soul.”

Happy old saint! -Such faith as hers has
ever been honored and ever will be.

Reader! you, too, doubtless have a Bible.
Have you tried and proved for yourself the
faithfulness of God to the soul that trusts in
that Bible?

The Bible has ‘the same truths and promises
for you it had for this aged widow. It speaks
to you for the same purpose as it spoke to her.
It says that Jesus Christ, the Son’ of God, is
the Saviour of all sinners. That ‘‘God so loved
the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.’’ (John 3, 16.)

The Bible tells you that God hears and
answers prayer. ‘That He is a present help in
trouble. That He is the Father of mercies
and the God of comfort. Do you know this in
your own soul's history and experience? a

Have you not proved these things? Then it
is because you have not tried them. Seek in
the Bible, the Word of God, for the truth that

maketh wise unto salvation. Trust in that
Bible! You will find God faithful to His prom-
ise and faithful to you; peace and joy and hope
will fill your soul with gladness, and you, too,
will be able to write on the margin of that
book which brings you God’s promises, ‘‘Zried
and Proved;’’ and you will be able to sing with
thankfulness and joy,
“Should all the forms that men devise
Assail my faith with treacherous art,
I'll call them vanity and lies,
And bind the Gospel to my heart.”

_—~-;—P oo

The Dying Indian Boy and the Bible.

The bell tolls ONE.
Teach me to say,
“Thy will be done.”

The bell tolls TWO.
Help me each day
Thy will to do.

The bell tolls THREE.
I ask in Faith
To follow Thee.
The bell tolls FOUR.

I pray for trust
For evermore.

The bell tolls FIVE.
For Christlike speech
Help me to strive.

The bell tolls SIX.
Teach me my Hope
On Thee to fix.

The bell tolls SEVEN.
O make my life
A way to Heaven.
The bell tolls EIGHT.
May I in peace
And patience wait.
The bell tolls NINE.
Let Charity
Be ever mine.
The bell tolls TEN.
I pray for love
To God and men.
It tolls ELEVEN.
Let me each hour
Be nearer Heaven.

TWELVE strokes I hear!
Now perfect Love
Hath cast out fear.

“T found him,” says the missionary, ‘‘ dying
of comsumption, and in a state of the most
awful poverty and destitution, in a small birch-
rind covered hut, with nothing but a few fern
leaves under him and an old blanket over him.
After recovering from my surprise, I said, ‘My
poor boy, I am sorry to see you in this state;
had you let me know, you should not have
been lying here.’ He replied, ‘It is very little
I want now, and these poor people get it for
me; but I should like something softer to lie
upon, as my bones are very sore.’ I then asked
him concerning the state of his mind, when he
replied that he was very happy; that Jesus
Christ, the Lord of glory, had died to save
him, and that he had the most perfect con-
fidence in Him. Observing a small Bible under
the corner of his blanket, I said, ‘Jack, you
have a friend there; Iam glad to see that; I
hope you find something good there.’ Weak as
he was, he raised himself on his elbow, held it
in his thin hand, while a smile played on his
countenance, and slowly spoke in precisely the
following words: ‘This, sir, is my dear friend.
You gave it me. For a long time I read it
much, and often thought of what it told. Last
year I went to see my sister at Lake Winnipeg
(about two hundred miles off), where I re-
mained about two months. When I was half-
way back through the lake, I remembered that
I had left my Bible behind me. I directly
turned round, and was nine days by myself,
tossing to and fro, before I could reach the
house; but I found my friend, and determined
I would not part with it again, and ever since
it has been near my breast, and I thought I
should have it buried with me; but I have
thought since I had better give it to you when
I am gone, and it may do some one else good.’’’

++ oo oe

Praying and Working.

(Selected.)

_——_— ~ eo + 2

The Widow and her -Bible;

OR,
Tried and Proved.

An aged widow was thinking of the faithful-
ness and love of God, with her Bible open be”
fore her. It was an old Bible—a very old one
—which bore the marks of much handling;
but it was a very precious one to its owner, not
only because it had been her mother’s Bible,
but because in it she had, for many years, found
the comfort which she could find nowhere else.
So this one holy book was dear to her heart,
and a treasure in her home. And so well did
she know her Bible that she could easily find
almost any passage she desired.

Throughout her Bible there were many
words and marks, which she had written with
her pencil, the most numerous of which were
1? and «P.”?

While the widow was thus thinking of God's
love, a friend came in, who, seeing the open
Bible before her, said something about the
Sweetness of that book; and in turning over
Some of its leaves in order to find ‘a passage,
Saw “Tang ‘P.” written in several places
Upon the margin, and therefore took the liberty
of asking what it meant.

I like that saying of Martin Luther, when
he says, ‘‘I have so much business to do to-day,
that I shall not get through it with less than
three hours’ prayer.’’ Now, most people would
say, “I have so much business to do today,
that I have only time for three minutes’ prayer;
I cannot afford the time.’”? But Luther thought
that the more he had to do the more he must
pray, or else he could not get through it. That
isa blessed kind of logic; may we understand it.