The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1912, Page 3

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 3.

Faith.

We wall: by faith, nol by sight. 2 Cor. 5, 7.

The clouds hang heavy around my way;
I cannot see.

But through the darkness I believe
God leadeth me.

"Tis sweet to keep my hand in Mis
While all is dim,

To close my weary, aching eyes,
And follow Him.

Through many a thorny path Te leads
My tired fect;

Through many a path of tears I go;
But it is sweet

To know that Ile is close to me,
My God, my Guide!

He leadeth me, and so [ walk
Quite satisfied.

To my blind eyes He may reveal
No light at all,

But while I lean on His strong arm
I cannot fall. W. T.

ca eee

Thanks for the Gospel.

At a missionary meeting a missionary related the
following : —

I was called to a dying colored man. When he
heard that I was there, he raised himself up and
said in a broken voice that he was saved and was
going to Jesus. Overcome by his feeling, he fell

hack upon the pillow, and I thought he had already .

departed. But he again opened his eyes, and said
with a great effort, “Wait, massa, wait! I forgot
one thing. When you go back to your people, tell
them that I die saved, and that I am thankful for
the Gospel which they sent, and that I pray for
them.” Having said this, he closed his eyes for-
ever in this world, and his soul passed away to be
with Jesus. —

Missionary Scott in Demarara one day stood at
the dying-bed of a pious African woman. He took
leave of her as if he would never again see her in

this world. But the moment he turned to go away,-

she made a sign as if she had something yet to tell
him. As he stepped nearer, she asked in a trem-
bling voice, “Whom shall I see in heaven?”

“Jesus,” replied the missionary, “for He will
appear upon the throne as the Lamb that was
slain.”

“Yes, yes, quite right,” said the woman, “but
whom else shall I see?”

“All faithful believers of past times are now in
heaven,” said the missionary; “there you will mect
them.”

The woman was not yet satisfied, but asked,

- “Shall I see also the members of the Missionary ~

Society 2”

“Do you wish to see them?” asked Missionary
Scott.

“Oh, yes, yes, massa!” said the woman, “I want
to see them that I may say to them, “Thanks for
the Gospel *

——- > eo

A Missionary’s Sad Experience.

Missionary Alt, of the Rhenish Mission in Bor-
neo, relates a sad experience which he had one
Christmas time. He tells of an old heathen who
kept putting off the one thing needful, waiting for
a more convenient season. The old man died on
the 25th of December, 1894. He was not one of
those who could say reproachfully to the mission-
ary, “Oh, why didn’t you come sooner?” He had
already in his youth heard the Word of God from a
Christian missionary. But he -had willfully. re-
mained in heathen darkness in spite of the Gospel
light that was shining all around him. Less than
a month before his death the missionary had again
spoken to him, reminding him of his sin and of his
need of a Savior from sin; but he replied, “Not
yet; later.”

The day before Christmas the old heathen was
carried sick out of the forest to the mission station.
The missionary tried again to bring him to the
knowledge of his lost condition and to lead him to
the Savior. But, alas, the old man’s reply was,
“When I get well, I will attend to it; my pains are
too great now.” Christmas night he died. The
missionary was with him to the last. He was there
with the good tidings of great joy which shall be
unto all people—the glad tidings of the Savior
born in Bethlehem for every sinner—the Gospel
of Jesus, the “Light to lighten the heathen.” But
the soul of the poor old heathen passed away in
darkness. His last word was, “Dark!”

“Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the
day of salvation,” 2 Cor. 6, 2. Therefore, “To-day

“if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts!”

Hebr. 3, 15.

Delay not, delay not! The Spirit of grace,

Long grieved and resisted, may take His sad flight,
And leave thee in darkness to finish thy race,

To sink in the vale of eternity’s night.