The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1881, Page 43

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 43

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Salvation Through Christ.
A HINDOO STORY.

“He who loves self more than God hath|and den it’s all bright and clar. De bright
broken the first law,’”’ continued Abbas; ‘‘for | side’s allus whar Jesus is, massa.’’
is it not written: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord ‘Well, Nanny, if you can do that, I think I
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy | ought to.’”’
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy; ‘‘’Pears like you ought to, massa, for you’sa
strength; this is the First Commandment’? | preacher of the word of Jesus.’’

Hossein, this arch of thy bridge is broken;| She went away. I turned myself on my
thou canst not pass to heaven upon it.” blanket and said in my heart, ‘‘ The Lord is my

“And can you?’ exclaimed Hossein with Shepherd. Itis all right and well. Now, come
impatience. fever or health, come death or life, come burial

“No, my son,’’ said the old man meekly ; “J }on the Yazoo Bluff or in the churchyard at
have long ago seen that this, as well as other|home, the Lord is my Shepherd.” With this
Commandments, has been broken by me, a sin-| Sweet peace I fell asleep. When I awoke I was
ner. There never was but one Man, and he|in a perspiration; my fever was broken. Old
the Holy One of God, with whom the bridge of | Nanny’s faith I shall never forget.
obedience was perfect and entire.’’

“If your bridge be broken, how do you hope
to reach heaven at all?’’ inquired Hossein.
“How can you, or any one else, escape being
swallowed up in the flood of God’s wrath?”’

“By clinging to him who cast himself into
the raging torrent that he might bear all those
who believe in him safe to the shore of heaven!”
exclaimed Abbas with fervor. “Thou hast
looked down on thyself, thy sinful self, O Hos-
sein; now look upward to Christ, the spotless
One, who can save thee from self and sin. My
hope of heaven is firm and sure, for it is founded
on this sacred word: ‘God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son, that who-
soever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life.’”—A. L. O. E.

Hossein said to his aged grandfather Abbas:
“OQ grandfather, wherefore are you reading the
gospel?”’

Abbas made answer: ‘‘I_read it, my son, to
find the way to heaven.”’

Hossein, smiling, said: ‘‘The way is plain
enough. Worship but the one true God, and
keep the Commandments.”

The man whose hair was silvered with age
made reply: ‘Hossein, the commandments are
as a bridge of ten arches, by which the soul
might once have passed over the flood of God’s
wrath, and have reached heaven; but the
bridge has been shattered. There is not one
amongst us that hath not broken the Command-
ments again and again.”’

“My conscience is clear!’’ cried Hossein
proudly. ‘‘I have kept all the Command-
ments; at least, almost all,’”’ he added, for his
conscience had given the lie to his words.

“And if one arch of a bridge gave way under
the traveler, doth he not surely perish in the
flood, my son, though the nine others be firm
and strong? But all the arches of thy bridge
are broken; the very first is in ruins.’’

“For the First Commandment, ‘Thou shalt
have no other gods before me,’ ‘I have never
broken that!” exclaimed Hossein, indignantly.
“T have never worshipped any God but one—
the Almighty, the Invisible, the All Merciful.
That _arch_in_my bridge at least is whole-and+-

———- 0 ammo - =

Tell the Good News.

A New Zealand girl was brought over to
England to be educated. She became a true
Christian. When she was about to go back to
her heathen country, some of her playmates
tried to keep her. They said:

‘“Why do you go back to New Zealand. You
are accustomed to England now. You love its
shady lanes and clover fields. It suits your
health. Besides, you may be shipwrecked on
the ocean. You may be killed by your own
heathen people. Everybody will have forgotten
you.”

‘‘What!’’ she said; ‘‘do you think I could
keep the good news to myself, and not go and
tell my dear father and mother how they can
get it too? I would go if I had to swim there!
Do not try to hinder me, for I must go and tell
my people the good news.”

a

A Near Relative.

> + o-=<ze

——~~ The Bright-Side-—~-

entire.”’

“The being whom we love above all others,
and whose honor we most desire, the being
whom we obey in all things, is not he the one
whom we worship in the temple of the heart?”
inquired the old man.

“Surely, for that being is our God!” ex-
claimed Hossein.

He of the silvery beard slowly rose from his
seat. ‘Come with me, O youth,” said he, and
I will show thee whom thou dost worship in
the temple of thine heart.’’

“No man can show me Him whom I wor-
ship!” cried Hossein, in indignant surprise;
“for the one true God is invisible, and I wor-
ship none but Him.’’

‘Come with me,’’ repeated Abbas; and he
led the way to a tank of water clear and pure,
in which the sorrounding buildings and trees
were reflected as in a mirror.

Hossein followed his grandfather wondering,
and saying to himself: ‘‘Age hath made the
old man as one who hath lost his reason.’?

When the two reached the tank, Abbas said
to his grandson: ‘‘Look down into the clear
water, and behold him whom thou dost love
above all others, whose honor thou dost most
desire, whose will thou dost ever obey. O Hos-
sein, my son! is he not to thee in the place of
the one true God?”

: Hossein looked down, and behold! there was
his own image reflected in the clear water.

A servant of God was overtaken by sickness
when far from home in the army, and thus
writes:

“Just at the gray of the dawn in the morning
the fold of my tent parted, and a black face
peered through. It was old Nanny, a colored
woman. Looking tenderly at me, she said,
‘Massa, dose yer see de bright side dis mornin’?”’

“No, Nanny”’, said I; ‘‘it isn’t so bright as
I wish it was.”

“Well, massa, I allus sees de bright side.’’

“You do?” said I. ‘‘Maybe you haven’t
seen much trouble.”

‘“Maybe not,’’ she said, and then went on to a
tell me, in her simple, broken way, of her life “May I ask your name, my kind friend?
in Virginia,—of the selling of her children one | 44 are you related to me?”
by one—of the auction sale of her husband, and “Through our Lord Jesus Christ; for I have

then of herself. She was alone now in the learned from him that my neighbor is my
camp, without having heard from one of her} ther?

kindred for years. ‘‘Maybe I ain’t seen no
trouble, massa.’’

‘But, Nanny,” said I, ‘have you seen the
bright side all the time?”

“ Allus, massa—allus.””

“Well, how did you do it?”’

‘Dis is de way, massa: when I see de great
black cloud comin’ over’’—and she waved her
dark hand inside the tent as though one might
be settling down there—‘“‘and pears like comin’
crushin’ down on me, den I just whips around
on the oder side, an’ I find de Lord Jesus dar;

A sick officer went to a mineral spring in
Germany for the benefit of his health, but the
hotel-keepers refused to admit him lest he should
die in the house.

At-the last hotel a gentleman came forward,
and said, ‘‘ This officer is my near relative. He
may have my bed, and I will sleep on the sofa.”’

The landlord consented, and the half-fainting
man was carried to the gentleman’s room.
When he had rested a little, his first question

Or oe oe

God’s Care.

Knowest thou how many stars
There are shining in the sky?

Knowest thou how many clouds
Every day go floating by?

God the Lord has counted all;
He would miss one should it fall.

Knowest thou how many children
Go to little beds at night,
And without a care or trouble
Wake up with the morning light?
God in heaven each name can tell;
Knows thee too and loves thee well.

LL