The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1909, Page 76

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%6 The Lutheran Pioneer.

: The Victory of God’s Word.

On the island of Tahiti, where Missionary Wil-
liams labored with great zeal, God’s Word gained
a great victory. The natives loved the Word more
and more. They read it with great delight in their
own language.

Oomipaaiaiay 5 = 7
{idl ray = ————_~_

Se Terns

Dr. MARTIN LUTHER.

When, in the year 1844, the French waged war
on the island, the Protestant missions had to suffer
a great deal. The Catholic French local government
tried to drive away the Protestant missionaries.
Catholic priests were brought to the island, who
were to deprive the natives of God’s Word. But
they did not succeed. God’s Word was deeply
rooted in the hearts of the people, and they cared
not for the fables and lies of popery.

In a conversation with the natives a Catholic

priest said that the Romish Church is the only true
church, and in order to illustrate this, he pointed to
a large tree with root, trunk, branches, and twigs.
He tried to explain the meaning of these different
parts of the tree. “At the root,’ he said, “stands
a lamb; that is Jesus, the Lamb of God. The tree
itself signifies the Catholic church; at the trunk,
next to Christ, stands Peter, the first
bishop of Rome.”

“Yes!” said the natives, “we know

_ who Peter is; we have two epistles from
him in our New Testament; it was he
who denied Jesus and upon whom Jesus
looked in pity. By that look Peter’s
heart was softened, and he was for-
given. But,” continued the natives,
“who are all those on the trunk of the -
tree above Peter?”

“Oh,” said the priest, “those are the
popes, the successors of Peter.”

“Of these we know nothing,” said
the natives, “but that does not matter;
for we have the root, the Lamb of God.
But what do those straight branches
signify which grow out of the tree?”

“Those are the various priests, and
bishops, and monks,” said the priest.

“Of these also we know nothing,”
was the reply; “we have the root, and
we can very well do without the rest.
But tell us what do those dry twigs
signify ?”

“Those are the heretics’ that are to.
be burned,” said the priest.

“But tell us, where are we?” asked
the natives. 2

“You? You are there,” said the
priest pointing to the dry twigs. “And
there,” he went on, “that big dry twig
is your Luther, and next to him are
your missionaries; you shall all be-
burned; for you are heretics.”

“We well understand the picture of the tree and
your explanation,” said the natives; “but the main
thing of the tree we have; namely, the root, the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world,
and in this we will continue, for in our Testament
it is written: ‘I am the Vine, ye are the branches.’
This was said by the Savior, the root. He also says:
‘He that abideth in me, and I in Him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit. If a man abide not in
me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered.’ ”