The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1904, Page 6

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6 The Lutheran Pioneer.

A Rest to the People of God.

HER. 4, 9.

We pass a few more years,

A few more joys shall know,
A few more sighs and tears,

A few more toils below.

Then everlasting rest
Shall follow weary days,
And we, among the blest,
Rejoice in endless praise.

Forever with the Lord,

Where there is no more night
And Jesus is adored

In everlasting light.

Then let us patient be
*Mid earthly care and p.in,
Sure of a blest eternity

With Christ, our Lord, to reign.
Selected.

eo ——_—_—_—___

Burning a God in China.

You know the people in China have a great many
gods. Some of them are images made of clay, or
wood, or stone, or some metal, and are kept in large
beautiful temples. But there is one—a paper god
—which we find in every home; and about this
one I want to tell you.

It is called the ‘‘kitchen god,” and is only a
rude, bright-colored picture on coarse, thin paper,
pasted up on the wall, inside a little shrine. There
is always a shelf before it, with a pot of ashes stand-
ing upon it. The people do not pray to this god;
but they worship it by lighting little sticks of in-
cense, and setting them up in the pot of ashes, and,
while the incense is burning, getting down on their
hands and knees before the god, and knocking their
heads on the ground two or three times. This they
do in the morning and evening, generally; but in
- some families they are very careless about it, and

sometimes, for weeks together, do not worship at
-- all. But if any one in the family is taken sick, or
. if any trouble comes, they are very apt to think it
is because they have neglected the ‘‘kitchen god;”’
and so they begin to worship it again.

They think that this god watches over the family,
and that he sees and hears what they do and say.
The strangest thing about it I have not yet told you.
Just before New Year’s there comes a day when, in
every home, the ‘‘kitchen god” is taken down and
burned up. The people say that they send their god
up to heaven to report what they have done during
the year. With him they burn little pieces of brown
paper, cut to represent ladders, on which he is to go
up. They know, of course, that they have done a

great many wrong things which they do not want
reported; so, the morning before the god is to be
sent up, they bring an offering of molasses candy,
in balls, on a plate, and set it before him, leaving it
there all day. The god cannot eat it of course; but
they say it is to stick his lips together so that he
cannot tell the wrong things they have done. In the
evening, after they have burned him up, they eat
the candy themselves. Then, after a few days, they
buy a new god, and put it up in the place of the
old one.

These poor blind heathen do not know of any
better way to get rid of their sins than this, because
no one has told them of Jesus, who died to save us
from our sins. — Missionary Echoes.

—~e

He Carries Up the Hills.

An aged Christian was teaching several children
the Twenty-third Psalm, which speaks of our Lord
as the good Shepherd. As they were talking about
the good Shepherd, and how He takes care of the
sheep and the lambs, one of the children, who was
more eager than the others to tell what she thought
about the matter, said, ‘‘He feeds them and drives
away the lions and the bears.’? Another one said
more calmly and thoughtfully, ‘‘Yes, and He car-
ries His sheep up the hills.’

The remarks of these girls made the aged Chris-
tian confess that he had had as much help from the
children as he had given them, if not more, espe-
cially from the child’s words, ‘‘He carries up the
hills.”’

Blessed be His name, He does! There may be
many hills before us as we enter a new year and
continue our life’s journey ; but we need not worry.
The good Shepherd carries His sheep up the hills.
He supports us in weakness, carries our burdens,
sustains us in trials, overcomes our difficulties,
enables us by His grace, helps us in danger, and
upholds us by His power.

“Shall I not rejoice for this?
He is mine and I am His;
And when these bright days are past
Safely in His arms at last
He will bear me home to heaven;
Ah, what joy hath Jesus given!’’

Obedience to God.

True obedience to God is the obedience of faith
and good works; that is, he is truly obedient to God

who trusts Him and does what He commands.
Tuther.