The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1924, Page 55

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

55

But only five months Mr. Leacock was permitted
to work in Fallangia. In fact, fever attacked him
soon after his arrival there, but he struggled
against it. Le passed what time he could with his
host, whom he soon received into the Church by
baptism together with his son Lewis. [Every even-
ing he prayed with the assembled family and those
who joined them and addressed them all briefly.
On Sundays larger congregations assembled, and
after the sermon the chief explained to his people
what they had not understood. The school was well
attended by the children and even by grown people.
All this was done while Mr. Leacock’s health was
failing. Entirely broken down, he was finally
obliged to go to Sierra Leone, leaving everything
in Mr. Dupont’s hands. While at Sierra Leone, he
rallied a little and would have returned to his work
but for a new attack, which proved fatal. He fell
asleep August 26, 1856, in his sixty-first year.

Others entered upon his labors and watered the
plants he had planted. But when we hear of the
Pongas, we must always think of the first mis-
sionary who so wonderfully was sent to them in
answer to the unwearied prayers of that African
chief. F. J. L.

My Bible — Your Bible.

A certain pastor was one day called to the house
of a man whose wife was dangerously ill and hasten-
ing toward the grave. She was a believing Chris-
tian and anxious for the end to come, but her
husband was an atheist. He did not hinder the
minister’s visits, but he himself took no interest in
what he read and spoke to his wife.

When the last hour came, the atheist stood at
the death-bed of his wife. With her last strength
the dying woman drew a small English Bible from
under her pillow and, holding the book, which was
much worn and had often been bedewed with her
tears, up to her husband, said to him, “Do you
know what book this is?” “Yes, it is your Bible,”
answered he. But she said, “Yes, it is my Bible;
it was my all; this book converted me, raised me
up, strengthened me, saved me. I am now going
to Him who gave it to me; there I shall need it
no more. Give me your hands—,” and with these
words she placed it into his hands, pressed them

together and said, “Do you know, dear husband,

what I am doing?” ‘Yes, my dear, you are giving
me your Bible.” “No, I am giving you your Bible;

God ordered me to give you this sweet legacy before
I die. Keep it, read it! Will you not promise me
to do this?” “Yes, my dear.”

Three weeks had passed since the death of this
Christian woman, when one day her husband en-
tered the minister’s study, weeping like a child.
“O my friend,” cried he, “now I understand what
my dying wife meant; yes, it is my Bible; every
word is written for me. Day and night I am read-
ing in this book, and I thank God that it is my
Bible. And now I beg you to receive me into your
congregation, to which my happy wife belonged.”
“Gladly,” answered the minister. There was joy
with the angels of God over this man, who had
come, not with objections, not with questions, not
with doubts, but with his Bible, which was as pre-
cious to him as if God had given it to him directly
from heaven.

And what the Bible did for this man, it is doing
among all races and peoples. Let us help to bring
its glorious message everywhere.

If the Cross were Gone.

On Lone Mountain, around which cluster the
cemeteries of San Francisco, there formerly was
a tall, white cross. After some years it was de-
stroyed by a windstorm. The sailors who were
accustomed to enter Golden Gate Harbor had it
replaced at their own expense. The white cross,
which they could see when miles out at sea, had
become a familiar and welcome signal, and they
could not bear its absence.

How the world, which is giving little thought

“to the meaning of the Cross of Christ, would be

lost in bewilderment and distress if deprived for
one day of its blessings!

BOOK TABLE.

Commentar ueber den Brief Pauli an die Roemer. Von
Dr. G. Stocckhardt, Professor am Concordia-Seminar
zu St. Louis, Mo. Concordia Publishing House, St.
Louis, Mo. Cloth binding; 649 pages. Price, $3.50.

This is a new edition of the sainted Dr. Stoeckhardt’s

Commentary on Romans. This great commentary on the
inspired apostle’s great epistle probably comes nearer to
being in every way what an explanation of the sacred text
should be than any commentary that has ever been pub-
lished. When we say that all those have our sympathy
who, because they are not familiar with the German lan-
guage, are prevented from profiting by the study of this
classic, we sincerely mean it. May God speed the day
when the demand may be sufficiently large to justify the
publishers in putting out an English version of this ex-
position of the Epistle to the Romans!

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