The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1911, Page 69

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

69

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The Master’s Way.
(Adapted by N. J. B.)

Not ours to know the reason why unanswered is our
prayer,

But ours to wait for God’s own time to lift the cross
we bear;

Not ours to know the reason why from loved ones we
must part,

But ours to live in faith and hope, though bleeding be
the heart;

Not ours to know the reason why this anguish, strife,
and pain,

But ours to know a crown of thorns sweet graces for us
gain.

A cross, a bleeding heart with trials sore — these for
our good are given;

Be still, my heart, and murmur not, such are the ways
of Heaven!

It’s ours to know — aye, learn it well —it is the Mas-
ter’s way.

They serve Him best who ask not why, who live but to
obey.

"Tis ours to know the better part whereby a crown is
won; ~

Then, loving God, I ask not why; “Thy will, not mine,
be done!”

Yea, Thy way, Lord, not mine, I pray; I give to Thee
my will,

And humbly ask Thy grace and aid this better part
to fill.

It was not always thus with me, I loved my way the
best,

But that is past, Thy way is mine; in it alone is rest.

——

An Indian Girl’s Blessed Death.

Luella was the name given in baptism to a little
Indian girl, of whose blessed death the missionary
gives the following account: —

To-day in our village died Luella, one of the
little girls that had attended our school more regu-
larly than any other girl in the village. She was
an orphan and lived with her mother’s relatives.
Hers was a sad and lonely life. But-her soul was
happy in her love to the Savior whom she had
learned to know in the mission-school. Almost
alone among heathen relatives, she stood firm.to the
end. She died of consumption, and through all
her suffering, though often all night awake with
coughing, with no candle to light, often hungry,
with no food to eat, yet she was happy in the love
to the Savior and longed to be with Him in heaven.

Her old grandmother is a medicine woman, and
used all her heathen arts to draw Luella away from

Christ, but in vain. The other day, when I was
about to say good-bye to her, I asked her to select
a hymn to sing. She looked up with her great,
bright black eyes and said, “All Hail the Power
of Jesus’ Name.” In darkness, hunger, pain, sur-
rounded by heathen relatives, in the face of death,
the little shrinking, timid Indian girl could say
with triumphant faith, “All Hail the Power of
Jesus’ Name,” and could mingle her dying tones
with ours, as we sang that song of victory. At the
last moment wishing that she might again hear the
missionary pray, she passed away.

One more sheaf gathered in from the harvest
field! Dear, patient Luella, no longer an orphan,
homeless and friendless, but safe at home with her
heavenly Father! She asked to be laid away on the
hill near the schoolhouse. There her body now rests
till the coming of a glorious resurrection. :

May the light of the Savior’s love shine into the
heathen darkness in which so many of her people
are still living, and may it bring joy and salvation
to their sad and bewildered hearts!

The Dollar That Built a Church.

There is a large church on the wall of which
hangs a picture-frame containing a dollar bill, and
under it the inscription, “The Dollar that Built
this Church.” As the edifice cost not less than
fifty thousand dollars, the sight of the bill Ch
out the story.

Every one had admitted that the new church
ought to be undertaken. The old building was
quite outgrown. The town was growing, the mem-
bership was growing, and the expanding work of the
organization called for a new and greatly enlarged
equipment.

The church voted to build. An architect was
selected, plans were drawn and approved, and the
canvass for funds began; but the people were not
ready for the sacrifice involved. The solicitors re-
turned with reports of less than half the amount
necessary. ‘There were men of wealth in the mem-
bership, and the total sum might easily have been
secured, but one held back to see what another
would do, and the other measured his zeal by that
of his neighbor; so there resulted a general apathy
and reaction.

- When the report was received, the architect was
instructed to prepare new plans involving less ex-
pense. He did so, but they showed a ch’ so much