The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1913, Page 67

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

67

the seeds of love and good works, which in the sun-
shine of continued prosperity so often lie dormant
and seemingly lifeless, than trouble and misfortune?
What would become of nature if it rained no
more?
What a blessing in disguise to a Christian is
misfortune ! K. K.

— oes

A Story of Faith.

Some time ago, writes a German pastor, 1 stood
by the bedside of a sick laborer who had a wife and
four children. He had lain sick for three weeks,
and the sickness had exhausted all his means. No-
ticing that he was weeping while we sang a precious
song of Zion, 1 asked him why he wept. Was he
troubled with the thought of parting with his wife
and children? Te looked at me steadfastly, almost
reproachfully, and answered :

“Does not Jesus stay with them? Has not the
Lord said He is Father to the fatherless and a Judge
of the widow? No, they are all cared for. I have
prayed the Lord that He would be their guardian.
Is it not so, wife? You are not troubled; you are
not afraid; you believe in Jesus?”

“Surely,” she replied, “I believe in Jesus, and
rejoice that you go to Jesus. I shall follow you
with the children in His own time. Jesus will help’
me to train up the children through His Holy
Spirit.”

“Why did you weep then?” I asked.

“Wor joy; for I thought if .the singing is so
beautiful here, O, how beautiful will it be when the
angels help in it! I wept for joy that His blessed-
ness is so near.”

Then he motioned to his wife. She understood,
and went to -the shelf, and brought down a little
saucer in which her husband kept his money. There
were six groschen (about 15 cents) in it that re-
mained of his store. He took them out with trem-
bling fingers, and laid them in my hand and said,
“The heathen must yigre these, that they may know
how to die in peace.”

I turned to his wife, who nodded assent and said:

“We have talked it over already. When every-
thing has been reckoned for the funeral these six
groschen remain.

“And what remains for you?”

“The Lord Jesus,” she replied.

* “And what do you leave for your wife and
’ children ?”

“The Lord Jesus,” he said, and whispered in
my ear: “He is very good, and very rich.”

So I took the six groschen, and laid them in the
mission box as a great treasure, and it has been a
struggle for me to pay them away. But if they
had not been paid away, the dying man’s wish would
not have been fulfilled.

That night he fell asleep. And neither his wife
nor his three eldest children wept, neither in church
nor at the grave. But the youngest child, a boy
about five years, who followed the body, wept bit-
terly. I asked him afterward why he wept so
bitterly at his father’s grave, and the child made
answer:

“I was sorry that father did not take me with
him to the Lord Jesus, for I begged of him with
my whole heart that he would take me.”

“My child,” I said, “your father could not take
you along with him; only the Savior could do that;
you should pray to Him.”

“Ought I, then, to pray to Him for it?” he
asked.

“No, my child, if the Savior will take you, He
Himself will call for you; but if He wants you to
grow up, you must help your mother and ae her
live with you; will you?”

He said, “I would like to go to Jesus, oa I.

would like to grow up that mother might live
with me.”

“Now, then,” I replied, “say to the Lord Jesus
that He must choose.”

“That is what I will do,’ he said, and was
greatly delighted and in peace. :

“God Will.”

The conservatism of Eastern nations, especially
of the Chinese, is almost impenetrable. Their
ideas and customs seldom change; the old and
traditional is sacred in their eyes, and many of
them would almost rather die than depart from
these things. ‘The captain of the Trident, the ship
on which Robert Morrison, the missionary, sailed

from New York to China, who knew something of -

this impenetrable conservatism of the Chinese, said,
“And so, Mr. Morrison, you really expect that you
will make ‘an impression upon the pacers of the
great Chinese Empire?” “No, sir,” returned Mr.
Morrison severely, “I expect God will.”

All mission work must have God’s blessing to
be successful.