The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1885, Page 35

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‘The Lutheran Pioneer. 35
SSS ——————— 00 QE
Betty, the Match-Seller. to her, ‘I little expected, Betty, to see you so
patient; it must be a great trial to one of your
active mind to lie here so long doing nothing.’
“Not atall, sir; not at all, said old Betty;
‘when I was well I used to hear the Lord say
to me day by day, ‘Betty, go here; Betty, go
there; Betty, do this; Betty, do that;’ and I
used to do it as well as I could; and now I
hear Him say every day, ‘Betty, lie still and
cough.’ ””

Mrs. F. told me this story as she heard it
from her visitor, and she said it had a very
strong effect on her mind. She began to think
it was self-will, rather than faith, that made
her so anxious to get well and be active again;
and she humbled herself before God, begging
for grace to bear His will, rather than seek
her own. She became tranquil, happy, and
contented on her sick-bed, and almost im-
mediately after it pleased the Lord to restore
her to health, and continue her in it to the
time when I met her. —Tract.

'

mirable writing. Terse, forcible language.
I wonder who wrote it? God, I suppose. God?
—why, there isno God. I forgot myself. If
I could only remember my principles, and how
logical and well-founded the arguments are
which support them, I should be all right. ..
‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow.’ Confound the thing; will
nothing put a stop to this? There is a church,
I may as well turn in and see what they have
to say.”

He entered, and was shown quietly into a
pew. A solemn silence reigned. The minister
had just read the text from the pulpit, and
paused a moment before repeating it. Then,
in a gentle voice, he pronounced the words:

“Come now and let us reason together, saith
the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as wool.’’

That evening, there was one who prayed
with tears, ‘‘Jesus, though my sins be dyed
deeper than the deepest scarlet, do Thou make
them whiter than the purest snow.’ ’—Selected.

2+ aoe

“«T have learned, in whatever state Iam, therewith to be
‘content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to
abound: everywhere, and in all things, I am instructed,
doth to be full, and to be hungry, both to abound and to
suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me.??—Phil. 4, 1—13.

“‘Have you never heard the story of old
Betty??? said I to a friend who was telling me
some sad history of domestic discomfort.—
ce No ! ”

Then let me tell it you. The story was told
me by a young lady whom I met at the sea-
side, and though I believe it has appeared in
print, I know no other version of it but the
‘one she told me.

‘<Some years after I was converted,” said
Mrs. F., ‘‘it pleased the Lord to Jay me aside
from active occupation, and to confine me to a
sick couch for full two years. This inactivity
was very grievous to me, and my constant
prayer was for restoration to health, and power
once more to go about visiting the sick and
teaching the ignorant.

‘‘When visited by Christian friends, my con-
stant request was that they would pray for my
recovery, and that I might have faith to be-
lieve that the Lord would heal me.

‘Still I grew no better. About the end of
the second year, I one afternoon received a
visit from a minister unknown to me,’ who in
God’s providence was then visiting the place
where I lived. He read and prayed with me,
he sympathized with my sufferings, and lis-
tened to my troubles. I lamented to him my
weak faith, which I felt assured was the cause
of my continued weakness of body.

‘Mrs, F.,’ replied the minister, ‘have you
never heard the story of Betty, the old match-

seller?’ I had not. ‘Old Betty,’ said he, ‘was
brought to the knowledge of Jesus in her old
age: and from the time of her conversion never
thought she could do enough for Him who had
loved her and washed her from her sins in His
own blood. She went about doing good. She
was ready to speak of her Lord and Master to
all she met. She would nurse the sick, visit
the afflicted, beg for the poor and for the
heathen; she would give to those poorer than
herself portions of what the kindness of Christian
friends bestowed on her. In short, she was
always abounding in the work of the Lord.
‘«¢But in the midst of this happy course, she
caught a violent cold and rheumatism, and was
confined to her bed; there she lay, day after
day, and week after week, and, I believe, lay
there till the Lord called her home!
‘“©¢Qn her sick-bed Betty was as happy as
she had been in her active duties; she was
much in prayer; she repeated hymns and pas-
sages of Scripture, she meditated on the good
things she had learned, and on the good land
to which she was hastening. .
“¢Qne day Betty was visited by an old
- Christian friend who had long known her. He
was astonished to see his once active and useful
old neighbor so happy in her bed, and he said

—+ +o

A True Story.

One Sunday evening, a young man was
walking along the streets on his way to some
scene of pleasure, when he was accosted by a
person, who stopped him, and thrust a small
bit of paper into his hand;- the young man
took it, and read by the light of the nearest
lamp, the words, ‘Though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” A
sneer passed over his handsome face as he
read, and throwing the paper from him, he
hastened on.

“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
be as white as snow,’ doesn’t apply to me, at
any rate, for I am an infidel, and do not be-
lieve in anything of the kind,’’ thought he.
«Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
be as white as snow.’ I can’t get rid of it:
“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow?’ Sins? Conscience? Yei,
but I acknowledge neither a future nor a God,
and therefore am not responsible. What do I
care to have my sins made white, to use the
figure, seeing I own no duties beyond those
necessary to natural human existence? ‘Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white
as snow.’ 1 aman infidel,’’ (stamping his foot,)
“J don’t believe in the Bible, the God of the
Bible, the future, nor anything beyond the
still, dark grave. .So here's for a short life
and a merry one. ‘Though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall-be as white as snow.’ Con-
found it, I wish I could get it out of my head.
. . . ‘Though your sins be’as scarlet, they shall
be as white as snow.’ It is very forcible.
Very poetical. Certainly that Bible is a won-
derful work. Given, for the sake of argument,
that it is true, and that a God exists, I can
easily understand religious people, who believe
in a future, either of joy or suffering, clinging
to such sentences with a tenacity proportioned
to their belief, ‘Though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.’ Ad-

The Jewish Surgeon.

In one of the large London hospitals a poor
woman was dying. One of the young surgeons,
who was a Jew, went to her bed, and said:
“My poor woman, you seem very ill; I am
afraid you will never recover. Can I do any-
thing for you?”

“Thank you sir,’ said the poor woman,
‘there is a New Testament behind my pillow,
and I should be much obliged to you if you
would read a chapter to me.’

The young man seemed surprised, but he
took the Testament, and did as he was desired.

He continued to come and read to her for
several days, and was greatly struck by the
comfort and peace which the Word of Life
seemed to give to the poor invalid.

With almost her dying breath the poor
woman gave the Testament to the Jewish
surgeon, and urged him to read it.

He took the book home with him and de-
termined to keep his promise. He read it
diligently, and soon found Him of whom Moses
and the prophets wrote—Jesus, the Messiah—
and was enabled to believe in Him as the
‘Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of
the world.”

——_> eae oe

The Lost Boy’s Trust.

A little boy and his brother were lost ina
western forest. After being out a day anda
night, they were found. In giving an account
of what took place while they were in the
woods, the little fellow said:

‘When it got dark, I kneeled down and
asked God to take care of little Jimmy and
me, and then we went to sleep.’”

How simple, how beautiful that was! ‘That
little boy was feeling and® acting just as King
David did when he said, ‘I will’ both lay me
down in peace and sleep; for thou, Lord, only
makest me to dwell in safety.’”