The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1907, Page 29

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

29

But the greatest of sorrows was treading hard upon
the heels of that sorrow! My darling’s strength
showed no signs of rallying; she died on the 3d of
March. To crown my sorrows, and complete my
loneliness, the dear baby boy was taken from me
after one week’s sickness.

“Stunned by that dreadful loss, in entering
upon this field of labor to which the Lord had Him-
self so evidently led me, my reason seemed for a
time almost to give way. Ague and fever, too, had
laid a depressing and weakening hand upon me.
But I was never forsaken. The ever merciful Lord
sustained me to lay the precious dust of my be-
loved ones in the same quict grave, dug for them
close by at the end of the house; in all of which
last offices my own hands, despite breaking heart,
had to take the principal share! I built the grave
round and round with coral blocks, and covered the
tops with beautiful white coral, broken small as
gravel; and that spot became my sacred and much-
frequented shrine during all the following months
and years when I labored on for the salvation of
these savage islanders amidst difficulties, dangers,
and deaths. Whensoever Tanna turns to the Lord,
and is won for Christ, men in after days will find
the memory of that spot still green — where with
ceaseless prayers and tears I claimed that land for
God in which I had ‘buried my dead’ with faith and
hope. But for Jesus, and the fellowship He vouch-
safed me there, I must have gone mad and died
beside that lonely grave.”

For forty-eight years the devoted missionary
continued his labors among his beloved islanders
- until the Lord called him home to everlasting rest.

J

—

Peace in Believing.

Mr. Patrick of Scotland once met with a woman
who had long struggled with doubts and fears and
could not find peace for her troubled soul. Look-
ing far off for something not promised by the Lord,
she had forgotten that God has said, “The Word is
nigh thee,” and in striving for peace in laboring,
and peace in feeling, she overlooked the simple
method of “peace in believing, and joy in the Holy
Ghost.”

Placing himself beside her, and looking her
steadily in the face, Mr. Patrick said: “Do ye be-
lieve the Bible?”

“T do,” she replied.

“Can ye tell me who made the world?”

She smiled a little contemptuously and after
a pause said, “It was God.” —

To this he quickly replied, “How do ye know?
Were ye there to see?”

“No, I was not there, but the Word of God
says that He made it.”

“Ah! well, ye believe all the Bible says, do ye?”

She said, “Yes.”

“Ah! well, we'll see. ‘This is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him! Who
said that?” :

“The Father.”

“Well, will ye do as the Father bids ye?
commands ye to hear the Son.”

To this she assented.

“Well, then, what does the Son say? ‘God so
loved the world that He gave His only-begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not
perish, but have everlasting life. Again He says,
“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest’? And again He
says, ‘Ilim that cometh unto me I will in no wise
east out.’ If ye do not believe that, ye do not be-
lieve Him. I tell ye, ye do not believe all the
Bible.”

The poor doubting woman saw her sin of not
trusting simply in what God’s Word says concern-
ing the grace and the love and the saving work of
Christ. Accepting the promises, she found “peace
in believing,” and looking up to her gracious God
she was enabled to say with every true Christian:

“Thy grace first made me feel my sin,
It taught me ‘to believe;

Then, in believing, peace I found,
And now I live, I live!”

He

oe

“Jesus Redeemed Us from Sin, Death,
and the Devil.”

A pastor, as was the custom, was holding the
yearly examination of his flock at which both old
and young were asked to give a reason of the faith
and hope within their heart. He asked which were
the three greatest and most terrible enemies of the
human race, and received the answer: “Sin, death,
and the devil.” He now turned to a child and asked
which one ‘of these three was the greatest enemy.
The child answered: “Death. I want to go to
heaven, but I do not want to die nor be buried in
the grave.” He then turned to a man and asked
the same question and received the answer: “The
devil. For when one thinks of hell, a shudder comes