The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1909, Page 59

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

59

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The Gospel in a Sentence.

“God so loved the world, that He gave His only-
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life,’ John
3, 16.

This Bible verse has been called “the Gospel in
a sentence.” It teaches in few simple words the
Gospel way of salvation and has often been owned
of God in the conversion of souls in the mission
field. Missionary Nott read it at Tahiti when four-
teen years had passed of fruitless and seemingly
hopeless toil. The Gospel of John had just been
translated into the Tahitian. tongue, and he read
the precious verse and explained it to a group of
savages. One of the warriors, stepping out from
the rest, asked that this verse might again be read.
“That,” said he, “cannot mean us, though it might
mean you.” The missionary called attention to
the word “whosoever,” which includes every one.
“Well,” said the savage chief, “if that is so, your
God shall be mine, for we never heard of any such
love as that in our religion.” That was the first
conversion in all Polynesia, where now there are
many thousand members of the Christian Church.

Similarly was this verse blessed in Burmah,
among the Karens, when Dr. John E. Glough, in
the famine of 1877, gathered his vast camps of men
to work on the government canal. In the evenings
he used his opportunity to preach to them the
Gospel, and although at that time he knew but little
of the native language, he committed that verse to
memory, and however he might get “stuck” in a
sermon, could always fall back on that “Gospel in
a sentence.” As souls were converted, he bade them
commit that same verse to memory, and go and tell
it to their comrades; and that message of God’s
love was blessed for the salvation of many others.

“Could we gather together the annals of mis-
sions,” writes a missionary, “we should find similar
results following from that same precious verse in
other parts of the mission field.”

6

How to Awaken Missionary Zeal.

When the late Prof. A. Craemer, the zealous
and self-denying laborer in the mission cause of the
Church, was asked how greater zeal for mission
work might be awakened among the people, his
reply was: Preach the Word, which is the power
of God! Picture in vivid colors the deep misery

of sin, so that the hearers become alarmed at their
sinful state. Then preach also the Gospel in all its
sweetness, pointing the people to Christ crucified,
so that they come to a living faith in their Savior.
From the knowledge of their own misery caused by
sin they will come to know the great spiritual misery
of the heathen, and by faith in their Savior they
will become cheerful and willing givers — givers
who will not look on their contributions as great
sacrifices, but who will thank God that they are
considered worthy to help in the spread of the
Gospel by which they have been saved. Thus their
gifts will be a blessing, not only to the heathen, but
also to themselves.

‘Who Cares for Me?’’

A poor, lone woman sat one evening, thinking
how sad was her lot. She was old and almost help-
less, with little of this world’s goods that she could
call her own. “Who cares for me?” thought she.
Suddenly this verse of the Bible came to her mind:

“We have not a High Priest who cannot be touched .

with the feeling of our infirmities,’ Hebr. 4, 15.

It was like a flood of golden sunshine. Her
dark doubts and fears were gone. What need. of
earthly friends to cheer her declining years? She

_had-a heavenly Friend, even Jesus, who knew all

her care and sorrow, and who as the great High
Priest was touched with the feeling of her infirmi-
ties. He cared for her. It is He who says to all
that are His own: “I will not leave you comfortless.
My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth
give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid,’ John 14, 27.

“Thou, God, Seest Me.’’

When Hans Christian Andersen, the noted writer
of stories for children, was a little boy, he was
attacked by a wicked man, who often beat children
that came near him. When the man was about to
strike him, Hans turned and said: “Oh, sir, how
can you be so wicked as to strike me while God is
looking on?” ‘These words so awed the cruel man
that he lowered his club and did not strike.

Would it not keep us from many a sinful act
to remember that God is watching all we do? It is
well always to bear in mind the words of the Bible:
“Thou, God, seest me.” ae