The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1912, Page 43

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The Lutheran Pioneer

43

‘Here I find my comfort; this is the source of my
peace and of my hope.’ When I asked a widow
whether she would read the New ‘Testament, she
replied, ‘Read? Who would not read with joy
those heavenly words that can comfort the heart
of a widow? A sick Jewish teacher confessed
repeatedly that only by the power of faith in the
words of the Old and New ‘Testaments could he
with patience and submission to God’s will bear
the cross which the Lord had laid upon him. On
‘his deathbed he said to me, ‘You know my senti-
ments; you know what has given me strength and
support in my life; you know what I believe and
by faith in whom [ know that I shall be saved
eternally.’"”

tee

Trust in God.

“what did David
O God, for in

“Mother,” said a little girl,
mean when he said, ‘Preserve me,
Thee do L put my trust’ ?”

“Do you remember,” said her mother, “the little
girl we saw walking with her father in the woods
yesterday ?”

“Oh, yes, mother; wasn’t she beautiful ?”

“She was a gentle, loving little thing, and her
father was very kind to-her. Do you remember
what she said when they came to the narrow bridge
over the brook?”

“T don’t like to think about that bridge, mother ;
it makes me giddy. Don’t you think it is very
dangerous, just those two loose, planks laid across,
and no railing? Jf she had stepped a little on
cither side, she would have fallen into the water.”

“Do you remember what she said?” asked the
mother.

“Yes, ma, she stopped a minute as if she was
afraid to go over, and then looked up into her
father’s face and asked him to take hold of her
hand, and said, ‘You will take hold of me, dear

father; I don’t feel afraid when you have hold of

my hand.’ And her father looked so lovingly upon
her, and took tight hold of her hand, as if she were
very precious to him.”

“Well, my child,” said the ties “T think
David felt just like that little girl when he wrote
those words you have asked me about.”

“Was David going over a bridge, mother?”

“Not such a bridge as the one we saw in the
woods; but he had come to some difficult place in
his life — there was some trouble before him that

made him feel afraid, and he looked up to God,

. just as that little girl looked up to her father, and

said, ‘Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put
my trust.’ It is just as if he had said, ‘Please take
care of me, my kind heavenly Father; I do not
feel afraid when Thou art with me and art taking
hold of my hand.”

———————————

Rain from Heaven.

A German church paper relates that some time
ago, in one of the large cities of Germany, a little
girl brought her pastor a sum of money, about
75 cents, for missions. The pastor, knowing the
poor circumstances of the family, was surprised at
the large gift and asked the girl, “How did you get
so much money ?”

“T earned it,”

“But how,
so poor.”

“Yes,” said Mary, “when I thought how the
Lord Jesus died for me, I wished so much to do
something out of love for Him, and when I heard

was the reply.
Mary?” said the pastor; “you are

‘that much money was needed to bring the Gospel

to the heathen, I gathered rain-water and sold it
to the washerwomen, who paid me for every bucket-
ful. In this way I got this money.”

The pastor then told her that he would put her
name on the “mission list.” But the little girl said,
“OQ no, pastor, I want no one to know about it ex-
cept you and —the dear Savior. You may write
on the list: ‘Rain from Heayen’”” And it was
done so.

We all may learn something from faithful and
humble little Mary. We are to “become as little
children.”

God’s Love.

. Christian Scriver, the pious Lutheran divine,
wrote in his old age: “I have lived to see many
days, but still more wonders of God’s love. I know
that all under the sun is vain, inconstant, fleeting;
only God’s love endureth forever. My father and
mother, brother and sister, wife and child, have
died, but God’s love has never forsaken me. I have
found men changeable and fickle, but God’s love
remained true. I have much hard labor and trouble,

‘but God’s love is my strength. I have often been

persecuted by the devil and beset by the world;
but God’s love has been my refuge and consolation.”

‘