The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1888, Page 38

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38 The Lutheran Pioneer.

No idol was brought, as formerly, to sanctify | and found her singing as happy as a bird; upon
the ceremony; a Bible was placed in a con-| young Mrs. Brown, who had a few weeks be-
spicuous position to the right of the Queen; | fore buried her only child, and found her trust-
and on the canopy over her head were the|ful and serene in the view of God’s love which
words— ‘On earth peace; good will to men.’’| had come to her through her affliction.

The Queen and Prime Minister were baptized} The minister went home filled with what he
in 1869, with many others, the royal idols were| had seen, and when evening came, and he was
burned and the number of congregations in-| seated in his easy-chair, his good wife near him
creased ten-fold in two years. busy with her needles, he could not help say-

A native instructed ministry is rapidly grow- | ing, ‘‘What a wonderful thing grace is! How
ing up. A liberal spirit is developed among] much it will do! There is nothing beyond its
the people. They contribute freely to the sup-| power! Wonderful! Wonderful! It can do
port of the churches, have built many churches, | all things.’
are anxious for improved educational advan-| Then the litile wife said, ‘‘Yes, it is wonder-
tages. There is a general observance of the| ful, indeed; but there is one thing the grace
Lord’s day. The government has made it a} of God does not seem to have the power to do.”
legal day of rest. Intemperance is decreasing.| ‘‘Ah, what can that be?’’ said the husband,
Cruel punishments are given up. Instead of | ‘‘Why, it does not seem to have power to
burning alive, as formerly, in military punish- | control a minister’s temper, when a shirt-button
ments, there is now fine and loss of rank. The|is gone.’’
tribal wars of former times_have ceased, or} This was a new version of the doctrine of
their horrors have diminished. There are about | grace to the parson, but it was such a version ~
75,000 communicants, 400 native ordained pas-|as many another religious man needs to re-_
tors, and about 4000 local preachers under the|member. There is many a man who can stand
direction of the Missionary Society. There}up before a multitude and “confess Christ,’’

may have given largely and liberally; large} are about 800 day-schools, with an attendance | who can be most meek when insulted in some
of 50,000 children. public place; who can rub his hands and bless ;

sums doubtless appeared opposite their names;
nay, some of them may have built churches, |/~F'rom all this, we have the assurance that |God for the power of religion, but who is too

chapels, hospitals, etc., solely at their own ex-}no race is spiritually so dead that it cannot rise | weak to keep his temper at home.

pense. But all this may be done and not done |/to newness of life; no tongue so barbarian that| The value of art is the fineness of the work;
to Christ; sometimes we give that we may ap-|'it will not admit of a translation of the Bible; |the perfection of music is in the little accura- |
pear liberal; sometimes to please our friends. |'no heathen soul so sunk that it cannot become |cies. So the beauty and power of our religion
How often the collector for religious and char-|'a new creature in Christ Jesus. are seen when we manifest grace in little things.
itable purposes hears the expression: ‘If any Concerning Madagascar, Professor Christlieb | As it takes greater skill to engrave the Lord’s
one but yourself had-called, they would not| says: “We have before us, consecrated by the | prayer upon a five cent piece than upon a broad
have got so much’’? This is not giving to| blood of many martyrs, a success unequaled steel plate, so it takes more grace to live a good
Jesus, and Jesus cannot and will not acknowl-| for extent in history of Protestant missions, | Christian at home than in public.

edge receipt of what He does not receive. The} and great enough to vindicate missionary labor
next time you write your name in the collector's} from all attacks. Over Madagascar, after pro-
book and place your gift in his hand, or when

longed storm, the sun of the Gospel breaks
the basket, or box, is passed around your pews,

brightly, never again to be obscured.”
remember you are giving to Jesus Himself.| According to his recent little work we also
You are, as it were, laying your gift in the

hand’ which He so tenderly showed His dis-
ciples bearing the print of the nails.

—_——s oa or oe

Giving for Jesus’ Sake.

Give for Christ’s sake. This implies—giving
in Christ’s name. ‘‘Whatsoever ye do in word
or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,’’
Col. 3,17. Giving like Christ. “‘Ye know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He
was rich yet for your sakes He became poor,
that ye through His poverty might be rich.”’
Christ gave all He had; He gave Himself. ‘‘ He
loved me and gave Himself for me,’’ Gal. 2, 20.
Giving to Christ. ‘‘For I was an hungered,
and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye
gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took
Mein; Iwas naked, and ye clothed Me; I was
sick, and ye visited Me; I was in prison, and
ye came unto Me.’’. . . ‘‘Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least of these, My
brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” If we
aim Jower than this we aim too low.

If the gift be not given to Jesus He cannot
acknowledge it. ‘‘Znasmuch as ye did it not to
one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me,’’
cannot and does not mean that those on the
left hand never gave anything. Many of them

my,

_

Can They Show Us a Better Way?

“It is cheap and easy work to sneer at dogma,

thousand baptized converts, 4000 children re-|to make merry at the controversies of Chris- }
ceiving instructions in its schools, and in 1878 | tians, and to tell us that no one really believes

“In the isles of the sea; from the uttermost|the Bible. It is easy, I repeat, to do this.

Missions in Madagascar. part of the earth have we heard songs.’”’ Even children can cast mud and throw stones,

0 8
Art thou the Man?

noise are not arguments.

“T challenge those who sneer at dogma to
show us a more excellent way, to show us any-

There is an old story of a certain minister |thing that does more good in the world than
who, in arranging his toilet for his parochial} the old, old story of Christ dying for our sins,
calls, found a button gone from his shirt-collar, | and rising again for our justification. The man
and all at once the good man’s patience left|of science may say, ‘Come with me and look
‘him. He fretted and scolded, and said undig-|through my microscope and telescope, and I
nified and unkind things, until the tired wife | will show you things which Moses, David,-and
burst into tears and escaped to her room. :|St. Paul never dreamed of. Do you expect me

The hours of the afternoon wore away, during to believe what was written by ignorant fel-
which the parson called upon old brother Jones, | lows like them?’ But can this man of science

The story of the Gospel in Madagascar since
1820 is an exceedingly interesting one. This
great African island has an area equal to five
times the state of Pennsylvania — with more
than six millions of people. The first mission-
aries: reduced the language to writing, founded
a.echool system, introduced useful arts, trans-
ated. the ‘Bible, and gathered a few congrega-
tions. - Persecutions . followed under a hostile
Queen. . And as at the firat— ‘‘They that were}

scattered, abroad went everywhere preaching},
2? 50 true is it that.the blood of the

the. wor
martyrs is the seed of the.church, that at the ,who was all bowed down with rheumatism, and |show us anything through. his microscope or
end of twenty-five years of persecution the found him patient and even cheerful; upon | telescope which will minister to a mind dis-

; pee. had increased twenty-fold. - ses . _|young brother. Hall, wasting. away. with the|eased, bind up the wounds of a broken heart,
consumption, and found him anxious to go and | satisfy the wants of an aching conscience, sup

} new. era dawned in. 1868. . At the. CET
ee of the Queen there was sails acknowl, be with Christ; upon good old grandmother. | ply comfort fo the mourner over a lost asbeng,
edgment of Christianity. *- 307. . bisa | Smith, in her poor miserable hoyel of a home,|| wife or child?””—Bishop Ryle, pai

learn that a Lutheran society has more than a | to scoff at inspiration and the atonement, and (4

returned the number of its adherents at 20,000. | all the Bible, or all the facts enumerated in }

and make a noise. But sneers and mud and /

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