The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1885, Page 14

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14

The Lutheran Pioneer.

In China.
Our picture takes us to China. It shows us
the Chinese worshipping one of their many
idols. China is a vast country, embracing
5,300,000 square miles or one tenth of the
habitable globe. The millions of that mighty
empire are still Gentiles, ‘carried away unto
dumb idols.” What they need is not ‘culture
and modern civilization,’ but the Gospel of
Jesus. There are, however, but few laborers of
the Gospel in that vast country. In all of
China there are but 480 missionaries, of whom
241 are from various Christian bodies in Great
Britain, 214 from the different evangelical de-
nominations of America, and twenty-five from
the Continental Protestant Churches. The
number of Chinese who
have been led to confess
Christ has rapidly in-
creased under their la-
bors; as there were but
850 native converts in
1853, while there were
2,000 in 1863, 8,000 in
1878, and 22,000 in 1883.
But all put together,
what are they to a popula-
tion numbering at the low-
est estimate 250,000,000
souls? Lhe China Inland
Mission has penetrated
into the large province
in the interior, where the
foot of a Protestant never
trod before; and in the 18
provinces occupied by the
various bodies combined,
allowing one missionary
to 100,000 heathen, there
would still remain more
than 183,000,000. human
beings entirely destitute
of the Gospel.

It is appalling to think of such a people liv-
ing without Christ, and therefore without God,
and without hope, and out in the dark world,
dying at the rate of perhaps 1000 every hour,
and dying without the Saviour. We must
therefore be thankful to God for moving the

“hearts of Christians to respond to the cry of
those perishing millions, ‘‘Come over, and help
us.” Some months ago the Rev. Taylor, the
founder of the ‘‘China Inland Mission,’’ re-
turned to England to obtain recruits, and he
procured 49 in three days. ‘The latest intelli-
gence shows that this number. has since in-
creased to more than 100, embracing the sons
and daughters of many wealthy parents. Within

- the past few weeks the best ‘‘cricketer’’ in

England not only sailed as a missionary, but

gave the whole of his large fortune to the
cause, and he was followed by the ‘‘strokes-
in” of the Cambridge University boating
club, and by others who would be considered
in clegan society as belonging to the most
: highly educated and refined circles.

Cut it Out.

Two Christian men were talking about as-
surance of salvation, and one said ‘the thought
it a kind of presumption for any to say that
they were saved;’’ the other replied, ‘‘Friend,
hand me your Bible;’’ he opened it at 1 John 5,
then taking out his penknife, said, ‘Brother,
Iam going to cut out verses twelve and thir-
teen, you don’t believe them, they are no use
to you, therefore they are better out than in.’’

—“Stop, stop,’’ cried the other; but before he
could rise up to prevent him, his friend had
them out and laid them on the table. There
they were:

“12. He that hath the Son hath life; and
he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.’’

“13. These things have I written unto you
that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that ye may know that ye have eternal life,
and that ye may believe on the name of the
Son of God.”

At first the man was very angry and vexed
that his Bible had been spoiled, but taking up
the cut-out verses he began to read them over,
and soon the light began to dawn on him.
“What a fool I have been!’’ he exclaimed.
“JT say I believe God’s Word—yes, it is true
from first to last—but I have not believed this,
and yet it is very plain; henceforth I will not
doubt what He says. Thank you, brother, for
such a sharp, cutting reproof; the holes in my
Bible shall stand as a witness against my un-
belief; the words are in my heart now.”

Reader, how much of God’s Word ought to be |’

cut out of your Bible?—Z. R.
———— + oo \
Farrn makes the Christian; life proves the
Christian; suffering confirms the Christian;
death crowns the Christian.

Lesson by a Swiss Guide.

“Tn the summer of 1879,’’ says the writer,
“‘T descended the Rhigi with one of the most
faithful of Swiss guides. Beyond the services
of the day, he gave me, unconsciously, a les-
son for life. His first care was to put my
wraps and other burdens upon his shoulders.
In doing this he called forall; but I chose to
keep back a few for special care. I soon found
them no little hinderance to the freedom of my
movement; but still I would not give them up
until my guide, returning to where I was rest-
ing for a moment, kindly but firmly demanded
that I should give him everything but my al-
pinstock. Putting them with the utmost care
upon his shoulders, with a look of intense satis-
faction he Jed the way.
And now, in my freedom,
I found that I could make
double speed with double
safety. Then a voicespake
inwardly : ‘O foolish, will-
ful heart; hast thou, in-
deed, given up thy last
burden? Thou hast no
need to carry them.’ I
saw it all in a flash; and
then as I leaped lightly
from rock to rock down
the steep mountain-side, I
said within myself: ‘And
ever thus will I follow
Jesus, my Guide, my
Burden-bearer. I will
rest all my care upon him,
for he careth for me.’”’

—_—> ~<a

Luther’s Description of
. a Christian.

A Christian is a child
of God, a brother of
Christ, a temple of the
Holy Ghost, an heir of the kingdom, a com-
panion of the angels, a lord of the world and a
partaker of the divine nature. The’Christian’s
honor is Christ in heaven, and Christ’s honor
is a Christian on earth. He is a dear child of
God, clothed in Christ’s righteousness, living
in holy fear and cheerful obedience before the
Father. He shines as a light in the world and
as a rose among the thorns; he is a wonderfully
beautiful creature of God’s grace, in whom the
holy angels rejoice and whom they continually
accompany with joy. He is a miracle to the
world, a terror to the devils, an ornament to
the church, a desire of Heaven. His heart is
all ablaze, his eyes full of tears, his mouth full
of sighs, and his hands full of good works.

THE general ends both of the Old and New
Testaments are one; the only difference be-

.| tween them being this, that the Old made wise

by teaching salvation through Christ that should
come, and the New by teaching that Christ
our Saviour is come.