The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1893, Page 29

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Vol. XV.

the heavy laden.

of their sin.

— «Che Autheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PusBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LutHERAN SyNopICAL ConrerEncE OF Norra AMERICA.

The Blessing of Song.

“What a Friend we have in Jesus,”
Sung a weary child one day;
And a weary woman listened
To the darling’s happy lay.

All her life seemed dark and gloomy,
And her heart was sad with care;
Sweetly rang out baby’s treble,
‘All our sins and griefs to bear.”’

She was pointing out the Saviour,
Who could carry every woe;

And the one who sadly listened
Needed that dear helper so!

Sin and grief were heavy burdens
For a fainting soul to bear;

But the baby, singing, bid her
‘Take it to the Lord in prayer.”

With a simple, trusting spirit,

Weak and worn she turned to God,
Asking Christ to take her burden,

As He was the sinner’s Lord.

Jesus was the only refuge;
He could take her sin and care;
And He blessed the weary woman
When she came to Him in prayer.

And the happy child, still singing,
Little knew she had a part

In God’s wondrous work of bringing
Peace unto a troubled heart.

Anonymous.

2s +0 or eo

Rest for the Heavy Laden.

‘*Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
sheavy laden, and I will give you rest.’’ (Matth.
11, 28.) This is Christ’s gracious invitation to
Who are they? They are
those that have come to a knowledge and sense
God’s holy law has laid open
unto them their sinful, corrupt hearts; they
find nothing good in themselves, but rotten-
ness allover. Their sins have become a heavy
burden unto them, and they.know that they
“haye deserved the everlasting punishment of
a just and holy God. ‘They labor and are
heavy laden with this burden and cry out for
And there is rest for the heavy laden;
for Christ says, ‘‘Come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
: In Christ there is rest, and in Christ
only; for He is ‘‘the Lamb of God that taketh

St. Louis, Mo., August, 18938.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Louls, Mo., as second-class matter.

No. 8.

away the sins of the world.’’ Therefore ‘‘he
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life.’’ (John 3, 36.) The moment the sinner
comes to Christ, that is, believes in Christ, all
his sins are forgiven, the heavy burden is taken
away, and he has found rest. - Christ has be-
come to him a ‘rest stone,’’ as a native of
India once said. :

In India, where burdens are carried on
men’s heads and on their backs, and not in
carts, and wagons, and barrows, as with us,
it is customary to provide resting places for
them along the roads. For this purpose stones
are set up along the hot, dusty and sandy
ways just the right height for a man to rest
his burden on. There he can stand and rest
till relieved and refreshed he is able to.go on
his way. a

A native Christian in Travancore once said
to an English gentleman, ‘‘Ah, sahib, Christ is
all my hope; Christ is my rest stone.’’ The
words expressed very beautifully the man’s
sense of comfort and blessing he had in his
Saviour.

This native Christian had many a time gladly
used the rest stones by the roadside, and he
was calling the Lord Jesus Christ his rest stone.
He had learned to know the burden of sin, and
to feel its weight; but finding it too heavy for
him to bear, he had come to the Saviour with
it, had laid it upon Him, and found rest.

What simple faith, what unquestioning trust
of the little child in weakness, suffering, and
pain. She had grasped by a simple faith the
glorious truth, ‘‘God knows what is best.’’
And shall we not learn of the little child, and
ask for the childlike faith to trust as she
trusted?

‘*God knows.’’ Oh, to grasp that truth.
He knows; He who loves us; He who can tell
the end from the beginning ; ‘He who will lead
us and guide us to the end. One of old said,
‘*He knoweth the way that I take ;’’ and then
not only ‘‘ He knows,’’ but ‘‘ He knows what
is best.’”” How that thought grasped by faith
would calm and quiet these restless hearts of
ours, which are so often full.of unrest and
disquiet, instead of calmly resting, as He wills
we should, on His perfect love.

And then one other thought. This little one
grasped the truth, ‘‘God knows what is best,’’
not.when she was full of life and health, but
when she was weak and suffering, she so calmly
rested on the thought, ‘‘God knows what is
best for little children.’’

What sweet unquestioning faith. May God,
by the power of His Spirit, carry it home to
many a tempest-tossed soul, weary with suffer-
ing, unrest, and conflict. And in that blessed
assurance that ‘‘God knows what is best,’”
may we each go forward, leaning on His arm
of strength, knowing that He does all things.
well, and will lead onward day by day those
who trust Him until they reach the haven
where they would be.

“God Knows What Is Best.”

Very often in life, says a teacher, we are
permitted to see the little child’s faith taking
firm hold of God’s love. I was forcibly re-
minded of this not long since on being told
of the words spoken by a little child whom I
knew. Only five summers had passed over
her young head, but she had loved going to
the Sunday School. I had often taken her on
Sunday afternoons, not to teach her, for I
taught an older class.

At the end of last year this little one fell ill,
and was very weak and suffering. One day
when her father was sitting by her in her ill-
ness, she said to him, ‘‘God ‘knows what is
best for little children.”

The Word of Truth. ~

An honest Roman Catholic who had never
heard of the Bible, received one as a gift, and
at once began to read it.

‘tWife, dear,’’ said he, ‘‘if this book be true,
we are astray !’”

Still he read, and exclaimed, ‘‘ Wife, dear,
if this book be true, we are lost /””

He continued to search the sacred book.
God’s gracious Spirit shone upon it; and with
joy he said, ‘‘ Wife, dear, if this book be true,
‘we are saved /”? :

—

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