The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1924, Sheet 35

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISITED BY 'THHE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNopICAL CONFERENCE or Nortit AMERICA.

REv. F. J. LANKENAU, EDITOR.

Published monthly by Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo.

Subscription price, 50 cts, per annum, payable strictly in advance,

Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Acceptance for maltling at special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 5, 1018.

ST. LOUIS, MO., MAY, 1924.

No. 5.

Vol. XLVI.

OUR MONTHLY MISSIONARY MOTTO.

‘“‘Ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in
Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.’’ Acts 1, 8.

‘“‘Why Did You Not Come Before?”’

(An aged Hindu woman, when first hearing the Gos-
pel, said, “Why did you not come before? My hair has
grown gray waiting for the good news.”)

An aged woman, poor and weak,

Had heard the mission teacher speak;
The tears came slowly rolling down
Upon her withered features brown.
“What blessed news from yon far shore —
Would I had heard it long before!

“Oh, I have bowed at many a shrine

When youth and health and strength
were mine!

How earnestly my soul has striven

To find some gleam of light from heaven!

But all my toil has been in vain - -

These gods of stone but mocked my pain.

“A weary pilgrimage I’ve trod

Tro win some favor from my god;

And all my jeweled wealth I’ve laid
Beneath the dark pagoda’s shade;

But still the burden on my breast
Bowed head and heart with sore unrest.

“Now I have waited many a day;

My form is bent, my hair is gray,
But still the blessed words you bear
Have charmed away’ my long despair;
My weary heart with joy runs o’cr, —
Ah, had you come to me before!

“How welcome is the glorious name

Of Jesus, who to save me came!

And shall I live when death is past?

And may I all my burdens cast

On Him? And is His mercy free?

Not bought with gifts? Such news for me!

“Yet please forgive me when I say *

I’ve needed this so many a day.

In your glad homes, did you not know
How India’s tears of sorrow flow?

If you had known on that bright shore,
You surely would have come before.” — Sel.

Kings Landing.

1. “Uncle” Milton.

Do you see the picture on page 34? ‘The old
man with the crutch is “Uncle” Milton. He lives
in that old cabin in the background. Next to him
sits his aged wife.

When the Lutheran Church started services at
Kings Landing three months ago, people began to
talk. This old man, with seventy-five years on his
back, heard about it. He had never belonged to
chureh and for-years had led a riotous life. Some
time ago a disease began gnawing at his foot. It
was necessary,to remove the member. As “Uncle”
Milton sat in his bare, rude home, he began to
think. And thoughts more serious than ever began
to crowd his brain. He thought of his sinful,
wayward life. He looked forward. A few short
days, and then? The grave — eternity — hell-fire!
His soul was greatly troubled. He was afraid to die.
He was despondent. Was it the agony caused by
the operation which made him think continually of
the pains of those who will be damned forever ?

. We cannot say. But we do know that he pleaded
with his people to take him to “that new church.”
The mules were hitched to the old wagon, and we
find “Uncle” Milton sitting in the midst of that.
large audience that has crowded the Lutheran
mmecting-place at Kings Landing.

He hears from our missionary that sin leads to
hell. He hears that those who love the world will
perish with the world. What thoughts must have

passed through his mind! So it is true, “Uncle”