The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1912, Page 71

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

NOTES.

THANKS For Bipbe.— “The Gideons” is the
name of an organization of Christian traveling men
whose aim is the placing of Bibles in the bedrooms
of all the hotels in the United States and Canada.
The secretary of the organization has received many
letiers from hotelkeepers and from guests telling of
the great good that has been done by this missionary

_ work of the organization. One letter recently re-
ceived is from a little boy and runs as follows: —

“T want to tell you that I thank you for sending
the Bible to our hotel. I am only ten years old,
and my mamma died last year. She used to read
me stories out of the Bible, but since she died, my
papa has not read me any at all. But when he
found a Bible in our hotel when we came here, he
saw it and thought of my dead mamma. THe began
to have tears in his eyes, and then he read me a
story like my mamma used to do. My papa is much
nearer to me since he reads to me from your book,
and I am glad you sent it.”

Pik Grearen Neep.—In a letter from “a
friend of missions” we are told: “It is strange that
people who take hardly any interest in mission are
easily moved with compassion and roused to help
when they hear of the bodily distress and needs of
their fellow-men. Are not the spiritual needs and
the dangers that threaten the soul the greatest
of all? Men are perishing, not only by fire and
flood, but especially by sin. ‘There is something
worse than the fire that burns the body. There is
something worse than the wreck which carries ship
and men to the bottom of the sea. Sin is worse.
Multitudes are perishing in sin. Provision has been
made for their rescue. The Gospel of Christ is to
be brought to them for their salvation. Should not
every church be a life-saving station, and should
not every church-member take an active interest
in the saving of souls from eternal death? O that
each member of our churches would consider what
the Church is for, and what he is here for! Much
more could be done by the various missions of our
dear Lutheran Church.”

Brore Worx. — The British and Foreign Bible

Society, one of the best friends foreign missions
have, now prints Holy Scriptures in 440 different
languages. ‘The whole Bible, containing the 66
sacred books, is published’ in 107, the New Testa-
ment in 212, and parts of the Bible, mostly Gos-

71

pels, are issued in 228 tongues. Since 1900 not
less than 86 new languages have been added to the
list, and all of these tongues are spoken on foreign
mission ficlds. Last year the Bible Society issued
7% million copies of Bibles, whole or in part. More
than 900,000 copies went to China, notwithstanding
the revolution. — Ex.

IN Arrica.— A German missionary has been
working since 1900 amongst a little known’ tribe,
the Banigika, numbering from seven to ten thou-
sand, in German East Africa, north of Lake Nyassa.
They are an industrious people, and make keen
Christians. The work has spread to 14 outstations.
There are 26 village schools, 183 baptized adults,
and 127 children of Christian parents. ‘The only
authority on their language —which can be read
by some of the surrounding tribes —is this mis-
sionary. Ile has just translated the New Testa-
ment into their language, and the Bible Society has
agreed to publish it.

A Great Crance.— The labors of the mis-
sionaries in Korea in recent years have brought
about many changes. One of the missionaries gives
the words of one of the native Christian women,
who speaks of a change in her home-life: —

“Before Christ came into our home, I never
knew what it was to eat a meal in the same room
with my husband. His meals were served to him
in the sarang (reception room), while I had mine’
on the earth floor in the kitchen. He always spoke
to ine in the lowest grade of servant talk, and often
called me by insulting names. Sometimes, when
he was angry or drunk, he used to beat me, and
my life was as miserable as that of most all the
heathen Korean women. But now that Christ has
come into our hearts, everything is changed. My
husband has not struck me once since he became a
Christian. We have our meals and prayers together
in the sarang, and he always speaks kindly to me,
addressing me as an equal. The past life was a
bad dream; the present is a foretaste of heaven.
We did not know what love was until Christ came
into our home to teach us.”

Tne greater your wants, the greater God’s good-
ness in supplying them. The greater your enemies,
the greater the display of God’s power in subduing
them. ‘The greater your unworthiness, the greater
His grace in saving you. The greater your trials,
the greater the comforts of His Spirit, and the
greater the joy in which they shall end. — Sel.