The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1892, Page 19

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 19

- Little Sermons. “But God Did.”

A brother and sister-were playing in the
dining-room, when their mother set a basket
of cakes on the tea-table, and went out.

“Flow nice they look,’’ said the boy, reach-
ing to take one. His sister earnestly objected,
and even drew back his hand, repeating that
it was against their mother’s directions.

‘She did not count them,”’ said he.

“But God did,’’ answered the sister.

So he withdrew from the temptation, and,
sitting down, seemed to meditate.

‘You are right,”’ said he, looking at-her
with a cheerful, yet serious air; ‘*‘God does
count; for the Bible says, ‘the hairs of our
heads are all numbered.’’’

A Child’s Prayer.

' It had been a time of great trial, loss of
money and ill health, says a poor widow. I
sat alone sewing and thinking, until the bur-
den was unbearable, and I said aloud: ‘I can
bear this no longer.’ I went to my room,
locked my door, fell on my knees, and told
the Lord all my troubles. I went back to my
work, but the burden was not gone. I said
to myself: ‘‘What does this mean? I never
went to my heavenly father before with all
my heart, without leaving my burdens at his
feet,””

Scarcely had these thoughts come to my
mind, when my little daughter came bound-

A little girl, about five years old, lived with
her parents, who were very poor, in a small
cottage, in a village of Prussia. One day,
when her father had gone out, little Rosa was
sitting by her mother, who was just recovering
from an attack of fever, which had weakened
her very much.

Rosa was singing a hymn for her mother,
when the door suddenly opened, and six sol-
diers entered the room. ‘The poor child was
so terrified, that she fell from the bench on
which she had been sitting. Soon, however,
she rose to her knees, and in her own simple,
childlike words, while, tears trembled in her

ing into the room, with one single blade of
grass, with its beau-
tiful blossoms so
dainty, yet so lovely
in form and color
that it had attracted
her atténtion. ‘‘Isn’t
it beautiful, mam-
ma?” she exclaimed.

I gazed at it for
one single moment,
and then came the
answer to my prayer.
With tears stream-
ing down my cheeks,
I clasped the: little
blossoms in my hand
and said again and
again: ‘‘If God so
clothe the grass of
the field which to-
day is, and to-mor-
row is cast into the
oven, shall He not
much more clothe
you, O ye of little
faith.”

My little daughter
stood by, filled with
wonder, and I could
only say, ‘‘Dear child, you have brought me
asermon.’’ This"happened a year since, but
a few weeks ago, she came shyly to my side

Jacob’s Ladder.
Genesis 28, 10—19.

eyes, she prayed God to pity them and help
them, to make the
soldiers kind to her
mother, and to tell
them to go away to
some other house
where they might get
something to eat and
drink. Sheclosed her
prayer with these
words: ‘‘For thou
knowest, Lord, that
we are very poor.’’

One of the sol-
diers kindly patted
the child’s head and
said: ‘‘Who taught
you to pray, little
one?’”’ ‘‘Jesus and
mother,’’ was her
simple reply. The
soldier, a tall, strong,
rough looking man,
turned aside his
head, and brushed a
tear from his cheek.
Then putting a piece
of money in her
lap, he kissed the
little girl, and said,
“There is something for your mother, my
child. Pray also for us soldiers sometimes,
for we very much need prayer.”

“Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross
That raiseth me;
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!

and laid a handful of the same grasses in
my lap, saying: ‘‘Mamma, here are some of
your little sermons.”’

>>

The Book Gods.

“The missionary has many gods,’’ said a

little African boy to a traveler who was visit-
ing the mission station. :

‘‘How is that?’’ said the visitor.

“O, Lhear him talking to them every day,
and these gods are alive, and talk to him.””

‘Show me some,’’ said the visitor.

He took the visitor to the missionary’s library
and showed him the gods with which the mis-
sionary frequently conversed. They were the
books that he had seen the missionary reading.

No Puzzle.
“Though, like the wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,

My rest a stone,

Yet in my dreams I’d be
Nearer, my God, to Thee,

Nearer to Thee!

An infidel tried to confuse an old Christian
colored man by telling him that there were
many contradictory passages in the Bible.
‘or example,’’ said he, ‘‘how can it be that
we are in the Spirit and at the same time the
Spirit in us?" The old Christian made a very
good answer. He said, Qh, dar’s no puzzle
’bout dat. It’s like dat poker. I put’s it in
de fire till it gets red-lot. Now, de poker’s
in de fire, an’ de fire’s in de poker.’? ‘The in-

_ fidel had no-more to say.

“There let my way appear
Steps unto heaven;
All that Thou sendest me
In mercy given;
Angels to beckon me :
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!”

———— s+ oa
A memory well stored with Scripture and
sanctified by grace is a good library.

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