The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1904, Page 31

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

The Lutheran Pioneer.

31

NOTES AND ITEMS.

Tue British AND Foreign Brsie Socrery. —
This Society celebrated its one-hundredth anniver-
sary in March. By its many translations and its
wide distribution of the Bible it has been a great
help to the missionaries in all parts of the world.
From a review of the work done in the past we
learn that during the hundred years of the exist-
ence of this Society nearly one hundred and eighty-
one millions of copies of the Bible have been issued,
and that the hundredth year has been the best.
During the past year, one million eight hundred
and thirty thousand copies have been sold.

Tie Gospen in Korea.— Early in 1900, one of
the Korean colporteurs, or Bible agents, of the
British and Foreign Bible Society induced a man
living in Pung-lok to buy a copy of St. Luke. A
few weeks later the man said that if copies were left
at his house he would recommend his friends to buy
them. In this way Gospels were purchased by two
men living at Yong-chen. The man who sold these
books is still a heathen, but the two purchasers are
now Christians. After their own conversion, they
began to work for the conversion of their families
and neighbors. And in their district there is now
a Christian church, formed as the direct result of
the sale of these few Gospels which had been left
by a colporteur at a heathen Korean’s house.

A Froatine Mission Scnoon.—A floating mis-
sion school for the children of boatmen on the rivers
and canals near Berlin, Germany, has recently been
opened and is attended by one hundred and fifty
children. The city mission employs regular visitors
to the boatmen, and is doing much mission work
among this class of people, using also the Christian
school as a mission agency.

PRAYING AND Givinc.— A little girl, six years
old, had put her pennies into the missionary box
with others. When saying her evening prayers at
- her papa’s knee, she hesitated a moment and then
added, ‘‘Lord, bless my two pennies for Jesus’
sake. Amen.’’ After the child had gone to bed,
her father asked the mother, ‘‘What made Gracie
say that??? ‘‘She has prayed thus every night since

giving her pennies to the missionary box,”’ was the

,mother’s reply. The dear little girl gave not only
her pennies, but also her prayers. Add your prayers
to your mission gifts.

A Goop Exampie.—Says an exchange: ‘There
is a farmer somewhere in the West who supports,

. Board of Foreign Missions.’

two missionaries on the foreign field. He is credited
with the following: ‘As long as I am on top of the
sod, I shall give not Jess than $1500 a year to the
Not every one is able
to give $1500 a year for mission, but most could do
more than they are doing. It should be the desire
of every one of us, so long as we are on top of the
sod, to do something praiseworthy for missions.’?

Rorren.— While addressing his people on the
character of the different churches, a Romish priest
took a walnut and said, ‘‘The outside is green and
bitter and represents the Lutheran; the hard, black
part represents the Calvinist; who is black and
hard ;” then cracking the walnut, he said, ‘“And
this, my dear hearers, represents the Roman Cath-
olic church,”’ and lo! the inside of that nut was—
rotten!

————e- 0-2

Christian Hope in View of Death.

Rey. Lilie, who has charge of a congregation of
Christian natives numbering 600 souls} writes from
South Africa: ‘‘The progress of the congregation _
is in general encouraging, so that I have reason to
thank God. To be sure, sins and errors are not
wanting, for our members are exposed to tempta-
tions and enticements every day, and by reason of
the weakness of the flesh they fall often enough.
Where can we find a field of grain without weeds?

“That the Word of God exerts its power also
upon our blacks the missionary learns when he.is
called to visit the sick and dying. Then it is that
he often experiences profound joy, so that his poor
heart, prone.to lament and often moved to grief,
exclaims exultingly, ‘After all, the labor among the
blacks is not in vain, the Lord Jesus is with them!’

“Several months ago a fever became epidemic
in this part of the country, and a number of persons
died. In one family three died, the mother and two
grown daughters, and another family lost two chil-
dren. Nearly all the members of these families were
down with the fever. The oldest daughter of Zecha-
riah Sitole had just been married to Thomas Bute-
lezi and was still at the home of her parents. I was
called to administer the Lord’s Supper to her. I
found her very weak, but perfectly rational. After
the confessional and communion service I continued
for a while to speak to her about the one thing need-
ful. She was joyful in heart and'appeared so happy,
as though nothing ailed her. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘now’
allis well; now I am going home to my dear Saviour;
all trials and pains are at an end.’ ‘But,’ said I,

‘you have just been married; do you want toleaye ~