The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1900, Page 27

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

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At Jacob’s Well.

To the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well
Jesus said, ‘‘If thou knewest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to
drink; thou wouldst have asked Him and He
would have given thee living water.’’

The woman was surprised at these words
and said, ‘Thou hast nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep; from whence then hast
thou that living water?’’

Jesus answered, ‘‘Every one that drinketh
of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst.’? In these words
Jesus offers the living water of ever-
lasting salvation. What a precious
gift! On another occasion He said,
“Tf any man thirst let him come unto
me and drink.’’? Jesus is the foun-
tain of living water, because He is
our Saviour. When we come to Him
and believe in Him we have that
living water and our spiritual thirst
is satisfied. Let us then draw water
with joy out of the wells of salvation
which are opened to us in the Gospel
and let us also bring the living water
of salvation to others that know it
not and that must die eternally if
they receive it not. ‘‘The Spirit and
the bride say, Come. And he that
heareth, let him say, Come. And he
that is athirst, let him come; he that
will, let him take the water of life
freely.’’

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God’s Apple-Tree.

Several years ago the secretary of
a Mission Society received the fol-
lowing letter from a country pastor:
“Enclosed please find one dollar for
our mission treasury. It is the gift
of a little girl who, two years ago,
departed this life to be with her Lord
and Saviour. One evening she went
with her mother into the orchard that sur-
rounded her home. Looking at the trees, she
said, ‘Mamma, I wish you would give me one
apple-tree to be entirely my own.’ ‘Why,
my child,’ replied the mother, ‘they are all
yours, yours as well as mine. If we live until
they bear fruit, you will have your share as
well as I, and we shall both rejoice together.’
‘Yes,’ replied the girl, ‘but that is not what
I mean. I should like to have one whose
apples I could give to God.’ Her mother al-
lowed her to pick out one of the trees as her
own. She chose the most beautiful one, and
laying her hands on its trunk, said, ‘From
now on you belong to God.’ This year the
tree for the first time bore fruit, and I send
you the profit therefrom for our mission

treasury. Thus she, though dead, yet
Speaketh.’’

How the New Testament Conquered.

A Roman Catholic priest in a village near
Morlax, France, warned his flock that he had
power to give absolution to any of them who
might be guilty of theft, lying, or any other
sin, but if any of them were guilty of read-
ing the New Testament, he could not absolve
them.

In the audience was a young man who, from
his violent conduct was the terror of the vil-
lage, even his parents having to defend them-
selves against their son. This young man,

hearing the priest’s statement, said to him-

At Jacob’s Well.

self: ‘‘I have committed all the sins the priest
has mentioned, yet he will give me absolution
for all, if I do not read the book. What kind
of a book can this be? I am going to get one
and read it.”

When he went to the Bible agent, the man,
knowing his character, at first refused, think-
ing he was only jesting; but when he saw that
he was in earnest and explained his reasons,
he gave him one.

A few days afterwards his mother said:
«How is it that Jean is so quiet and sober
lately? He is never drunk, and retires to his
own room after dinner.”’

The father replied, ‘‘I don’t know, but I
will follow him.”’

The next day, going quietly to the door of
his son’s room, he found him intently reading

a book.

He returned and told the mother, ‘‘He is
in his room reading some book; I believe it
is a New Testament.”’

She replied, ‘‘If that is all the harm the
New Testament is doing, ask him to come
and read it to us. Perhaps we shall get some
good from it.’’

He came and did so. God blessed the read-
ing to the father, mother, and lastly to himself.

The mother sent to the missionary, saying:
“J will take the furniture out of one of my
rooms and place chairs in it if you will come
and read the Word of God to the neighbors,
and tell them, though the priest refuses to give

them absolution, God has forgiven
us, and will also forgive them.’’
The missionary did so, and God
blessed the telling of the old, old
story to many souls.

Some time after this the mayor
sent for the missionary and said, ‘‘I
don’t know how it is, but when the
Bible went into that house the house
was the pest of the village, but now
it is the paradise of the place.”’

The Word of God is ‘‘quick and
powerful, and sharper than any two-
edged sword, piercing even to the
dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow, and is
a discerner of the thoughts and in-
tents of the heart.’’ Hebr. 4, 12.

C. H.

——-.

The Coffin Girl.

The lady Superintendent of a Chris-
tian Children’s Home in China writes:
‘Sad is the lot of my smallest pupil,
a neat, lively little girl, The poor
child was bought by a poor aged
widow when it was but a few weeks
old. When the woman brought the
child to our school, I asked her
whether she was its grandmother.
She replied, ‘No; the child is my

coflin girl.’ Lasked, ‘How so? What

do you mean?’ She then said, ‘I
bought the child only for the purpose of
earning my coffin. As soon as the little one
fetches a price large enough to buy a good
coffin, I shall sell her.’

“The superstitious heathen Chinese think
that no one can die happy without having his
coffin ready; people are often laid into their
coffin before they are dead, and the greatest
care of old people is to have their coffin stand-
ing ready in theirhome. It often happens that
a coffin is given to them as a birthday present.
Thus this aged woman also cares for her coflin;
but when she is told to care for her soul, she
will not listen. The little girl also knows that

‘she is to be sold as soon as possible; for the

old woman always complains that she is still so
§mall and so weak. What a happy childhood
Christian children have in eomparison with the
poor children in the heathen world !’’

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