The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1892, Page 6

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6 The Lutheran Pioneer.

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A Baptism in Africa.

that present I wished to buy for papa was a
dollar and a half. How was it possible for

Our picture represents a scene from one of | me ever to save up that much money ?”’

the missionary stations on the Niger river in|

Africa. On this river the late Rey. Dr. Crow-

“Why, George, a dollar and a half is made
up of nickels; thirty nickels make a dollar

ther, a man of great learning and missionary j and a half.’’

zeal, established several stations, where mis-

Yes, I know that, but think of it, I never

sion work was carried on with great success. | had more than one at a time, and what is one
At one of these stations, called Onitsha, the} nickel to thirty ?”’

Rev. Henry Johnson. was placed by Bishop}
He was a very) that, you will never begin to save.

Crowther as his assistant.

‘<0, George, if. you continue to think like
You must

learned and eloquent man, filled with the true} save your nickels till you get the dollar; be-

mission spirit. The colored people came in
crowds to hear the Gospel preached by this
zealous missionary. On Christmas day of the
year 1881, Rey. Johnson had 1100 hearers.
The church was crowded to the utmost, so

that the preacher could hardly move. There
was no elbow-room in church that day. Even

the chancel, and the vestry room, and the
stairs of the pulpit were crowded with
people. The missionary’s heart was
filled with joy as he looked upon that
Jarge congregation of colored people to
whom he could preach the Gospel of
Jesus. He spoke on the comforting
words: ‘Thou shalt call His name
Jesus; for He shall save His people
from their sins,’’ Matthew 1, 21. Many
hearts were moved by the power of the
Gospel. During the following week
men and women daily came to the mis-
sionary, begging to be received into
the class of catechumens, in order to
be instructed and prepared for bap-
tism. An old colored woman came and
brought her idols to the missionary,
declaring that she would worship idols
nolonger. In the missionary’s dwelling
she had seen a picture representing the
institution of the Holy Supper by Christ
in the night when He was betrayed. Looking |
at the picture, her eyes were fixed upon the!
Saviour, and she wished to learn more of Him, |

whose name was called Jesus. The missionary | beautiful Christmas present we saw in the!

told her the whole sweet story of Jesus’ Love. |
Hearing of the sufferings and death of the lov- |
ing Saviour, she was so moved that she cried |
out, ‘*Did He die for me also?”’ ‘‘Yes,’’ said
the missionary, ‘‘believe in Him and you shall}
be sayed.”’ ‘The dear old woman was soon
baptized by the missionary and became an|
earnest and zealous Christian. |
~~ oP 0 oe
(For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer.’’)

What Children Can Do.

While walking along the street a few weeks
ago, I overheard the following conversation
between two boys:

‘Well, George, how much money have you
saved to buy that Christmas present for your
papa?’’

©) Willie, I gave that up.’’

“You did?’’
*tYes, you see, I never had more than five

fore you do that, you never can save the
dollars. Think of the little busy bees; if they
would draw comparisons between the little
drops of honey, which is all they are able to
carry, and the big hive they wish to fill, do
you suppose they ever would get their hive
filled? But they do not do so; they set to
work and never stop till the hive is full. So

you also must do. If you had saved all your
nickels, I know you would have had enough
money by this time to buy your father that

store!’’

This short conversation teaches us a good
lesson. It teaches us that even the smallest
thing should not be despised, that everything,
and be it ever so insignificant, has its value.
So I read the other day that a large ship was
built and fitted out to serve as a mission-ship,
with the money that children had contributed
for the purpose. Now I am sure, these chil-

j dren first laughed at the idea of their building

a big ship with pennies and nickels. Un-
doubtedly they thought it was only a joke,
when they were told that if they would all
help, a large ship could be built, which could
carry missionaries to far-off countries, that
they might preach the Gospel of Christ to the
poor heathen. And yet it was done.

Yes, even little children can do much for
Christ’s kingdom. To show you this plainly,
let me give you a few interesting items from
the books of our Mt. Zion and St. Paul Mission
schools here in New Orleans. ll in all the

children of the Mt. Zion schools have con-
tributed over $2000.00, and the childrem of
the St. Paul schools about $750.00, which
makes a total of $2750.00. Now that may
not be enough to build a ship, but would it
not build a nice little church? So then, we
may say that these two Mission-schools have
contributed enough money to build a church!
Who will now dare to say, that children can
do nothing?!

When the new church was built at our
St. Paul Station, the children donated $75.00
toward furnishing the church, and not long
ago they again gave $30.00 for missionary
purposes.

The Mt. Zion Sunday-school has also given
$125.00 toward the building of a new church
for that station, and a short time ago they
presented the congregation with a beautiful
stove as a Christmas present.

You see, therefore, children are also
able to help spread the glad tidings of
the Gospel of Christ. Children are
also included when St. Paul says, 1 Cor.
3, 9: ‘We are laborers together with
God.”’ Let this encourage you, dear
children, that read this, to do all
you can to spread the-Gospel, for in
this work you labor together with God !
To labor, to work with a’king is the
highest honor to be attained by a man
in this world, This honor you may
have in the kingdom of God. And as
much greater as God is than other
kings, so much greater is the honor to

UY
—<

great honor, what bliss to be able to
help God! Who would not be happy
to do this and to do it with joy?
F. J. Lankenau.
New Orleans, La., Dec. 26, 1891.

How to Have Peace.

A friend once asked Prof. Franke how it
was that he maintained so constant a peace of
mind. ‘‘By stirring up my mind a hundred
times a day. Wherever I am, whatever I do,
I say, ‘Blessed Jesus! I have truly a share
in Thy redemption: Thou hast forgotten my
sins, and art guiding me by thy Spirit. ‘Thine
I am; wash me again and again.’ By this
constant converse with Jesus I enjoy serenity
of mind and a settled peace in my soul.’’

s+ o> oe

No one can reckon how much it costs only
to feed the birds, and even those which are
-of no use. I consider it costs more to main-
tain all the sparrows for one year than the
King of France’s revenues, with all his wealth,
rents and taxes. What shall we say, then, of
the food of all the other birds, ravens, jack-
daws, crows, finches and the rest?

Luther's Table Talk.

work in the kingdom of God. O, what .

a)