The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1909, Page 46

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46

“My child,” I said, “your father could not take
you with him; only the Savior could do that: you
should pray to Him.”

“Ought I, then, to pray to Him for it?” he
asked. =
“No, my child, if the Savior will take you, He
Himself will call for you; but if He will have you
grow up, then you must help your mother, and
have her live with you; will you?”

He said:

“T would like to go to Jesus, and I would like
to grow up that mother might live with me.”

“Now, then,’ I replied, “say to the Lord Jesus
that He must choose.” 4

“That is what I will do,” he said, and was
greatly delighted, and in peace.

Pastor Harms in “Good Words.”

Somebody Forgets.

There is a story of a little boy, living in the
most poverty-stricken section of a large city, who
found his way into a Christian school, where he
learned to know His Savior and was led to faith
in Him. One day, long after, one of those wicked,
skeptical, grown-up people who take pleasure in
- doing mission work for the devil, tried to shake
the child’s faith and began asking him puzzling
questions: “If God really loves you, why doesn’t
He tell somebody to send you a pair of shoes, or
else coal enough so that you can keep warm this
winter ?” '

The little lad thought a moment, and then said,
as he drew himself straight up to look at the
speaker: “I dare say He does tell somebody, and
somebody forgets.”

Yes, somebody forgets. ‘That is the explanation
of much misery in this world. How many could be
helped from the misery of sin, if so many Chris-
tians would not forget what God tells them as to
their duty in regard to mission work! Are you
among those who forget?

A Good Answer.

A proud infidel scornfully asked an aged Chris-
tian, “What is God doing now?”

The Christian’s ready answer was: “Just what
He has always done and always will do; He is
_ putting down the proud and exalting the humble.”

The Lutheran Pioneer.

In the Darkness of the Congo.

Ffuman sacrifices, writes a missionary, are of-
fered at the grave of every free person who dies.
In a circle of four or five miles from our station
on the Congo, in Africa, such sacrifices are of daily
occurrence. A neighbor of ours, a good, well-mean-
ing man, was accused of sorcery and killed. After
his death the accuser confessed he had been mis-
taken. But the poor man’s life was gone.

On another oceasion the wife of one of our
neighbors died. ‘The day she died a man and a
woman were put to death by her side in order that
she might not enter the spirit land alone. Piece
after piece of the persons slain was wound around
the corpse till it was half as broad as long. I heard
that it was intended to kill two more persons at
her burial, and I resolved to protest’ against it.
I found another missionary to go with me, and we
reached the place just as the executioner carried
the woman’s body to the grave.

At the end of the grave was the young man
who was to be slain, sitting with the corpse upon
his knee. He was to be buried alive along with the
dead. It was a sorrowful sight! Both the persons
to be killed were young, strong, healthy, of good
appearance, and they wept bitterly at the prospect
of such a death.

I took my place at the grave opposite the exe-
cutioner and tried to prevent the murders. ‘The

headsman soon became restless and withdrew, to.

the wonder of all. When I finished my talk in one
tongue, I used another and tried to tell them how
utterly wicked it all was, and that God, who alone
can give life, would bring to punishment every one
who thus tramples upon His commandments.

To these things one of the ruler’s friends made
answer,: “Are those who are to be killed your
friends? Haven’t they been bought and more than
paid for?” I repeated God’s command and warned
them that they: must protect both strangers and
friends, white and black, alike. ~ Again we appealed
to the headsman and again to the people, warning
them that we should hold them responsible.

Scarcely, however, had we turned our backs when
the ceremony went on, and the beating of the tom-
tom a few moments later told us that the grave
had closed over living and dead together. Since

then seven others have been sacrificed on that grave, _

one of our laborers being one of the seven.

Tek AS ee ee eee