The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1908, Page 83

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

comfort and the Holy Ghost for your light, have
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, forgiveness of
sin, and the hope of eternal life. Let me tell you
something: Your lot is much better than you de-
serve, and you ought to be thankful to God.”

With these words I left. After a few weeks
I passed the same house again. “Well, how are you
getting along now?” I asked the woman. With
a beaming face she replied, “Oh, thanks be to God,
much better than I deserve, pastor.”

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A Warrior Chief Becomes a Lover of Peace.

Missionaries tell us of many instances of the
power of the Gospel over the hearts of the most
cruel heathen. By the advent, or coming, of Christ
into their hearts through the Gospel, a wonderful
change is effected. Fierce and cruel warriors are
changed to peaceful and loving Christians. Those
who once took delight in fighting and slaying are
seen meckly seated as teachers or learners in the
schools of the missionaries.

Mahine was a warrior chief in one of the South
Sea Islands. He became not only the terror of
the spot in which he lived, but also to other islands
around. When there was a war, he was sent for to
assist in it, and many poor islanders, both. young
and old, did his spear pierce to the heart. He
thought his gods were pleased with the blood he
shed, and this urged him on with cruel rage.

When ihe missionaries visited the island in
which Mahine lived, he went to hear them, and the~
Holy Spirit applied the truth with power to his
heart. He now became quite a new man;
were cast away, and “he was as meek and humble
as a little child.” He lived as a Christian for
twenty years, and he was spared to be an old man.
Often was he seen, as the first rays of the morning
tipped the tops of the lofty mountain, at the foot
of which stood the schoolhouse, making his way to
the Bible class, to be taught himself —and then,
with the knowledge he thus got, he would go into
the children’s school and be the teacher of the little
ones. Sometimes he went from house to house to
encourage the people to live in love. He built a
small vessel, in which he sailed from island: to
island, sometimes carrying with him a missionary
to teach the people. How astonished they must
have been at the change! Once he used to visit
them in his war canoe to destroy their houses and
slay their children. Now they beheld him coming

his idols -

83

in his little ship to their shores with a message of
love to them and their children.

When he found his health fail, he gave direc-
tions about his family and the district over which
he was chief. A missionary went to see him, and
asked him how he felt now that he was near death,
when he said, “Christ is my resting-place; the fear
of death is gone; I have taken leave of all things
here, and am waiting and praying for the Lord to
take me.” Thus died Mahine, great as a heathen
chief, and the terror of the islands around, but
greater as a Christian, in humility and meekness,
in faith and love.

Contented.

Under date of September 1, 1851, “Father
Heyer,” a missionary in India, wrote _the following
to his young Lutheran friends in America:

My Dear Youne Frrenps:— Two months have
elapsed since I last wrote to you, and I now address
you once more from my Bethesda. Your minister or
Sunday school teacher will tell you the meaning of
this word; and you may then conclude that I look
upon the dwelling which I occupy in this ‘part of
India as a house of mercy to the most unworthy.
Its dimensions are comparatively small, but I
can sing: a

This little place for me designed
As well suits my contented mind
As palaces of kings!

At home, abroad, I am not forsaken; the Lord
is nigh, His Spirit comforts, the heavenly Father
smiles.

Earthly toys,
Sinful mirth and carnal joys,
. The things I loved before,
I now desire no more.
They belong to the world, and the children of the
world may take delight in them; but having re-
nounced Satan, the world, and the flesh, having
been extricated from the miry clay, what manner
of persons ought Christians to be in all holy con-
versation. May the Lord enable us to walk worthy
of our high vocation !

The Greatest Change.

To a heart that is full of joy, all it sees is joy-
ful; but,to a sad heart all is sad. Change of heart
is the Bratt change. — Iaither. :