The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1903, Page 18

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18

The Lutheran Pioneer.

The Persecuted Hindoo.

A Hindoo met a missionary in India one
day, and had ten minutes’ conversation with
him. It was a rule with the missionary not
to leave anyone without giving him a copy of
the Scriptures, or a tract. He gave the man
some tracts and a copy of the New Testament,
and heard no more of him. He almost forgot
him. But the man did not forget the mis-
sionary. He read the books, and as he read
them he began to feel that he was a sinner
and needed some better Saviour than a dumb
idol. Gradually, he left off worshiping idols,
and no longer paid anything towards the sup-
port of the temple. Soon he said, ‘‘I want to
go and see the missionary again.’’ He had sev-
eral grown-up children,
and they exclaimed, ‘‘No,
you shall not go; for you
will only receive more
tracts,.and you will dis-
grace us among our
people.”” At the same
time they brought fet-
ters, and bound him hand
and foot, so that the poor
man could not stir. No
Christian was near to en-
courage him or to instruct
him ; but Christ was near,
and He prayed for the
man, that his faith might
not fail. It did not fail.
He still resolved that as
soon as his fetters were
unloosed, he would find
his way to the Christian
teacher. Thirteen years
he was kept in chains!
But he had read his New
Testament too well to
forget it, and had learned
too much of his Saviour’s
love to give it up.

How do you think he gained his release
at last? A wedding was about to take place
in the family, and the children were anxious
that he should go to it; so they unchained
him. He took good eare to put the tracts
and the Testament in his cloth under his arm,
without the knowledge of his friends. He
went to the place where the marriage cere-
mony was to be performed, and whlien they
were all busy and excited in the festival, he
gave them the slip, and made the best of his
way to the missionary’s house, which was
twenty-five miles off. When he arrived there,
the missionary did not remember him. No

wonder, it was fourteen years since he had

seen him, and then only forten minutes. The
‘man said to him, ‘‘I wish to be a Christian.”

He replied, ‘‘What do you know about Chris-

nity??? He said, ‘‘Ask me some questions,
nd I will tell you what I know.” ‘he mis-
asked him some questions, and he an-
ed them all very correctly.

Of course, the missionary was very much
surprised, and he inquired of the man how he
had gained his knowledge of Jesus. He re-
plied, ‘‘Did you not, when you passed by my
village, fourteen years ago, give me some
tracts? They taught me that Christ is the
only Saviour, and I was unhappy as long as
I was a heathen. I have for some time left
off idol worship; and I should have come to
you before now to tell you that I believed in
Jesus, but I have been chained to my house.”’
He then showed the wounds which the fetters
had made on bis hands and his feet. The mis-
sionary was glad, and after some further con-
versation with him, in the course of a few weeks,
baptized him in the name of the Lord Jesus.

ASCENSION.

“Golden harps are sounding,

Angel voices sing,

Pearly gates are opened,
Opened for the King.

Christ, the King of Glory,
Jesus, King of Love,

Is gone up in triumph
To His throne above.

All His work is ended,
Joyfully we sing:

Jesus hath ascended;
Glory to our King!’

——> <P oe

Laying up Treasures in Youth.

On his missionary journeys, looking after
the scattered German Lutherans in Pennsyl-
vania, the Rey. Dr. Muhlenberg found many
who for years had not had an opportunity of
attending divine service, but who in their
troubles, and especially in time of sickness

and in the hour of death, comforted them-
selves with what they had learned in early
youth from the Bible, from Luther’s Cate-
chism, and from the hymn book. They ‘‘re-
membered the prayers, Scripture texts, and
hymns they had learned in early youth, and
found great comfort in repeating them.”
Muhlenberg therefore writes: ‘‘Oh, how good
it is, in one’s youth, to lay up treasures taken
from the Word of God. Even if it does not
at once produce the proper fruit on account
of many hindrances, yet God remains true to
Himself, and brings all to pass in His own
good time.’’

Thus wrote the great missionary who, more
than others, had the opportunity to see the
fruits of labors done in the Christian homes
and schools of the father-
land. Christian parents
and teachers should not
think that they labor in
vain when they do not
immediately see the fruit
of their labors. The seed
which is now sown may
bring its fruit in later
years when the sowers
are long gone to their
reward. ‘‘God remains
faithful to Himself, and
brings all to pass in His
own good time.’’

<> -—————

Every Christian a
Missionary.

“Brethren, if any of
you doerr from the truth,
and one convert him, let
him know, that he which
converteth the sinner
from the error of his way
shall save a soul from
death.’? These words of
the Bible are addressed not to the ministers
of the Gospel alone, but to all the brethren in
Christ, to all Christians. Christians should
esteem it their highest privilege, as well as
their duty, to speak, when opportunity pre-
sents itself, a word for Jesus to those with
whom they are brought in contact, and who
are living without God and without hope in
the world, especially to those who have wan-
dered away from the fold. Many a sinner
has been converted from the error of his way
by a word spoken in season by some earnest
Christian man or woman.

Remember, ‘‘that he which converteth a
sinner from the error of his way shall save a

soul from death.’’
—+ ~~ oe

He who desires to go to the Father must
cleaye to His beloved Son, renouncing every-
thing in himself, since nothing is of value or
estimation with the Father, but His well-
beloved Son alone. — Luther.