The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1912, Page 2

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death and the grave, our way to the joys of ever-
lasting life!

Jesus — most precious name! May all to whom
the name of Jesus has become precious resolve, by
the grace of God, to lead a godly life to the glory

’ of that name, a life of greater personal consecration
to the Savior that bought us, and of greater activity
in the mission work of the Church, to make known
the name of Jesus to the salvation of others who
are still without hope and without God in this
world. Jesus is the sinners’ only hope. “Neither
is there salvation in any other; for there is none
other name under heaven given among men whereby

we must be saved.”
—— —- -».30«s

Our Pilot.

“Our life,” says Luther, “is like unto the sailing
of a ship; for as the mariners in the ship have be-
fore them a port, or haven, towards which they
direct their course, and where they shall be secure
from all danger, even so the promise of everlasting
life is made unto us, that we should rest calmly and
securely in it, as in a safe port, or haven. But see-
ing the ship wherein we are is weak, and the winds
and wayes do beat into and upon us, as though they
would overwhelm us, therefore we have truly need
of a skillful and experienced pilot, who with his
counsel and advice might rule and govern the ship
that it run not on a rock, or utterly sink and go
down. Such a pilot is our blessed Savior Christ

Jesus.”
As a mother stills her child,
Thou canst hush the ocean wild;
*Boisterous winds obey Thy will
When Thou sayest to them, “Be still!”
Wondrous Sovereign of the sea,
Jesus, Savior, pilot me!

“That Is What I Need.”’

In Tochaktu, in the Chinese province of Fukien,

* a mission chapel had been erected, and a missionary
came to dedicate the building to the service of the
true God. A blind Chinaman, fifty years old, had

followed the crowd. “He entered the chapel just as -

the missionary read from his Bible the words:
“God so loved the world that He gave His only-
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The
words sounded to the blind old man like music
from heaven. He jumped up, and clapping his
‘hands, cried out, “That is what I need; for that

The Lutheran Pioneer.

I have prayed!” ‘The disturber had to be led out
of the chapel as he could not understand that he
had to be quiet during the sermon. 3

Six months later the same blind old man stood
in the chapel to be baptized. He had made good
use of his time, and had been prepared and in-
structed for church membership.

It was the custom of the native converts to tell
the congregation before their baptism what the
Lord had done for their souls, and how He had
drawn them to Himself. With deep emotion the
whole congregation listened as the blind old man
spoke. He said: “I was twenty-five years old when
[ realized that the worship of idols is vain. Early
one morning, sad and heavy-hearted, on the way
to my field, I saw the sun rising in the east like
a glorious ball of fire—for at that time I was not
blind yet. I then fell down and prayed to that
heavenly orb, saying, ‘O Sun, take the burden from
my heart! Evening came, and I again prayed,
‘O Sun, before thou goest, leave me thy blessing?
But the burden on my heart remained the same.
I then thought the moon could perhaps help me,
and I prayed for twelve months to the moon. But
the burden remained the same.
the stars ‘a whole year, but still I always felt the
burden in my heart. One day my God led me into

‘this Jesus-chapel, and here I learned who the great

God is that can help all men. No wonder that I
jumped up and cried out, “Chat is what I need?
To-day I stand here to be received into the Church
of Christ. The burden is gone!
Savior! He has taken the burden from my heart!”

Dear reader, have you a burden weighing heavily
upon your heart, and know not where to go for help?
Do as the blind old Chinaman did. Go to Jesus.
who came into the world for our salvation, and who
bore the burden of our sins that we might be free.
It is He who in the Gospel extends the kind invi-
tation to all burdened sinners: “Come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest.” *

Prayer of a South-Sea Islander after Sunday
Service.

Grant, O Lord, that the good words which we
have heard to-day may not be like our Sunday
clothes which we remove and lay aside until the
next Sunday comes, but let the truth which has been
preached to us be like the tattooing on our bodies,
ineffaceable, abiding unto death.

[ then prayed to —

I have found my*

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