The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1905, Page 84

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84 The Lutheran Pioneer.

for ourselves, for that would be selfish. Nay, rather
should it be our desire to serve one another accord-
ing to the ability God has given us.
O grant me, Lord, to do,
With ready heart and willing,
Whate’er Thou shalt command:
My calling here fulfilling;
To do it when I ought,
With all my strength, and bless
The work I thus have wrought,
For Thou must give success.

F.J.L.

Serving God.

What does it mean to serve God? Simply this,
that we should do what He commands. But what
is it that God commands? First of all, that we
should hear Christ and
accept His Gospel. After
this, God commands that
children honor father and
mother, that parents
should provide for their
children and train them ;
that the wife should love
her husband and take
care of her household,
and that the husband
should protect her and
make provision for her.
With monks and nuns
the rule has been to pass
by the commandments of
God and take up other
things which He had not
commanded. It has been
considered a very small matter that a servant girl
should cook and clean and attend to her house-
hold duties. But inasmuch as she does it under
God’s commandment, even those common works
must be exalted as a true service of God, far above
the sanctity and hardships of all monks and nuns.

There can be no greater joy and satisfaction than
to know that our whole life with its daily work is a
service of God. — Luther.

———o-_____.

The Lost Treasure.

One day a man who sells Bibles and good books
was making his rounds through one of the villages on
his route, and entered a house that was anything but.
in good order. The father was a drunkard. He
sat by the fire in a sullen stupor, the very picture
of wretchedness. His wife was in rags, and so were

Basement and First Story of new College Building
at Greensboro, N.C.

the children. The broken furniture, the uncarpeted
floor, the dilapidated surroundings were in keeping
with the appearance of the inmates.

The book-seller looked around the room and
then said, ‘“‘Friends, you have a treasure in the
house which would make you happy.’’ Having
said this he went away.

The man and woman kept those words in mind.
They often spoke of the lost treasure, and wondered
what it was, and where it might be. Many an hour
they spent in searching for it.

One Sunday the man thought of a shelf in the
house on which they had not yet looked. He got
on a chair and took down all that was on the shelf.
Among other things he found an old dusty book.
He dusted it and openedit. It opened at the fifteenth
chapter of St. Luke; for
it was a Bible. He read
there the story of the
prodigal who went into
a far country and wasted
allhe had. Helooked up
and said, ‘‘Wife, that’s
me.’’ He read further on
about the prodigal’s mis-
ery in that strange land,
and about the husks, and
again he said, ‘‘Wife,
that’s me.”” He read on
about the prodigal’s sor-
row, and about his return
to the father, and his con-
fession of his sins, and
then he felt very uncom-
fortable. He knelt down
and said just what the prodigal said: ‘‘Father,
I have sinned against heaven and in Thy sight,
and am no more worthy to be called Thy son.’’

The drunkard became a differentman. He and
his wife both saw their sins and found their Saviour.
They continued to read their Bible. Then they
began to go to church. They also became more
industrious and more cleanly. When the book-
seller visited that home the next year the first words
he said were: ‘‘You have found the treasure.’’
‘*Yes,’’ said the husband and wife, ‘‘God’s Word
is the treasure. Our home is now a palace, and we
are happy.’’

—_—_oo om

I weit know that no human life can appear
otherwise than weak and filthy in the eye of God;
but I rely on the merits and intercession of our
Redeemer.— Walter Scott.