The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1911, Page 84

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

84

The Lutheran Pioneer.

eee

Praying by Machinery.

Some heathen in Asia are said to pray by ma-
chinery, in order to repeat their prayers to their
false gods much oftener than can be done by speak-
ing. They have a round hollow box, or drum, in-
side of which are rolled up Jong pieces of paper or
silk, joined together, sometiines several hundred feet
long. On the paper or silk a prayer is written over
and over again, perhaps as many as a thousand
times. When the box is turned, the paper prayers
are moved about, which, they say, pleases their
gods. Thus these psor heathen make prayer by the
wholesale, for they suppose every time the box moves
round so many prayers are offered as are written or
printed inside.

They also have prayer-wheels, fitted on a handle,
which a person can easily hold as he walks about.
By turning their prayer-wheels, the written or
printed prayers are supposed to be repeated. Some,
especially the poor, have paper-flags, printed over
with prayers, and fastened to a pole. ‘The poor
people believe that every time these paper-flags flut-
ter in the wind all the prayers on them are repeated.

How sad is the lot of these heathen worshipers
who know not the true God and the way to Him!
Our pity for them should move us to pray more
fervently, and labor more diligently for the spread-
ing of God’s Word, in which the only true and living
God is revealed, to whom we offer our prayers in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through “His
blood and righteousness alone sinners can hope for
acceptance.

A-Story Worth ‘Repeatiiig.

Under this heading The Recorder brings the ~

following : —-

' Tn 1908, a native evangelist in Daninres a

iy spoke to a Lutheran missionary of a Jew,

t, Ruben, in a native Christian home, who aie
Pee disposed to Christianity, and: was a reader
of the New Testament. ‘The Rev. Mr. Kabis, the
missionary, soon met this Mr. Ruben, who told him
the following story : —

- His father, Ezekiel, a pious Jew and dealer in
precious stones, had moved from Bagdad to Bombay,
where he died while his son Ruben was quite:small.
An uncle, who was a rabbi in Bombay, had taken
care of the boy and given him a Jewish education.
Later, however, the boy went to an English mis;
‘ sonar school, where he became acquainted with the

New Testament and was instructed in the tenets of
Christianity. The impressions which he thus re-
ceived were so strong that he would have asked for
baptism if he had been independent of his relatives.
These, and later his brother and sister, also died
from the plague, and Ruben left Bombay to make
a living. “He lived in Agra, Delhi, Allahabad, and
other large cities of Northern India, until, finally,
he came to Bangalore. ‘There he became a sanitary
inspector of the city government, with a good salary,
some years before he came to the missionary. ‘The
old impressions, gained in the English missionary
schools years before that time, came back in Ban-
galore, and the desire to be baptized became quite
strong. Ruben acknowledged frankly that he be-
lieved in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was soon in-
structed by the missionary in the Word of God more
perfectly, and prepared for baptism. He is now
a member of the Lutheran church at Bangalore.

This story is not only an encouragement to mis- ”

sionaries, but also shows the value of early impres-
sions, and endorses the words of the sacred writer:
“Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt
find it after many days.”

A Blessed Death.

A Lutheran pastor, who some years ago served

our mission among the Indians in Wisconsin, visited
a ‘sick Indian girl who belonged to his mission
church. Shortly before her death she exclaimed :
“Abraham believed in the Lord, and his faith was
counted unto him for righteousness: This word is
for me also; unto me, too, my faith is counted for
righteousness, and I shall be saved eternally, not by
what I have done,—TI have done nothing, — nor
because I love Jesus, but because He loves «ne and
has died for me. O how glad I am that I can go
to Him!’
Who dieth thus dies well!

To-morrow's Burdens.

To-morrow’s burdens!’ That is what is troubling
so many —to-morrow’s difficulties,
troubles, to-morrow’s burdens. It is best to’ avoid
worry and anxious care by leaving to-morrow with
God. Reminding God’s children of their heavenly
Father’s love and care, Christ says: “Take there-
fore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow
shall take thought for the things of itself. Suffi-
cient unto the day is the evil thereof,” Matt. 6, 34.

to-morrow’s -