The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 14

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

A Remarkable Prayer of a
Colored Slave.

A missionary in the British Colonies of North
America one day heard a young Negro slave pray
as follows: “O Lord Jesus, I thank Thee that Thou
didst send a big ship with wicked men into my
native land to carry me away and bring me to this
place, where I can hear people speak of Thee and
learn to love Thee. And now, O Lord, I pray Thee
for another kindness; send yet another ship with
wicked men that they may carry away my father and
mother and bring them to this land, so that they
may also learn to know and love Thee.”

Some days afterward the missionary saw the
colored child sitting on the shore of the ocean with
his eyes fixed on the wide waters. To the question,
“What are you looking for, Thomas?” he answered,
“T am watching for the Lord Jesus to answer my
prayer.” For two years the child was seen every
day at the shore, watching for that “other ship.”

One day he came to the missionary, his eyes
beaming with joy, and cried out, “They are here!”
God had heard the boy’s prayer.

Confessions of Black Women.

The familiar voices of the old things menace
and warn, the voices of the new things encourage
and urge. There is a voice of black fear and a
voice at which the heart trembles —the voice of
the honored customs laid aside. And in all this
clamor there are things to be done, difficult things:
open confessions to be made, public retributions to
be borne, chastisements, often physical chastise-
ments, to be endured, and impoverishments. These
adventures are not academic; they are adventures
of the heart, adventures of the will.

An old woman is seen sitting on a bench in a
bark house that was the minister’s house in our
clearing. She wants to make her confession to the
minister, who had heard many tens of confessions
in that week. But she edged up and down her
bench, hedging in her account of her career and
glancing at me. “You fear the white woman,”
said the minister; “I tell you not to fear her; her
mouth is shut.” Then our old woman said that
she had killed three men — oh, long ago; not on
one day, of course, but wisely, with a herb of the
forest that she knew. She had put it in the food
of her enemies. For they were indeed her enemies;
they had killed her three sons. Yes, once she had

had three sons—real men. And one and all they
had died, each man by the hands of a witch. She
knew in her heart what three men had given a witch
for her three sons; and for this, when sufficient
time had passed, she had poisoned the food of her
enemies. “Not all on the same day, you under-
stand.” The minister understood. Now, said our
old woman, with a look of guilt and of relief, now
that this word was opened up and this deed was
thrown into the river, would God accept her? She
desired the new things and to follow the path of
the people of God. She had heard of Jesus, son
of Zambo, that He had paid a price that was suf-
ficient for all evil deeds. — Terrible old woman,
never to be forgotten in her look of guilt and her
look of hope.

Another of our ministers told me of a man who
returned to him a few hours after his confession to
say: “I forgot this thing — that I have eaten men.
Will God forgive me this, or is it a deed which will
spoil me in His eyes?”

Thus. one after another spells out the secret
combination to his past — you hear the click of the
lock, and there before you are spread out the hidden
and hideous things. — An African Trail.

BOOK TABLE.

Touring with God. Devotions for Christian Pilgrims.

Selected and arranged by Theodore Gracbner. Con-
cordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo. Bound in

flexible covers and furnished with a strong cloth
case; 160 pages. Price, $1.75.

The attractive outward appearance of this book well
symbolizes its well-sclected and well-arranged contents.
Many a traveler is going to thank the compiler for hay-
ing gathered into the handy compass of this book so
many appropriate meditations, poems, prayers, and Bible-
passages, suitable for use in the various situations that
will confront him while away from home. The publishers
have likewise been most happy in the mechanical make-up
of the book. Because of its contents and attractive ap-
pearance the book will be very appropriate for gift
purposes. ;

The Pride of Graystone. By G. L. Wind. Concordia
Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo. Bound in red
cloth; 373 pages. Price, $1.50.

Dr. Day, the Pride of Graystone Church, finds that
the “social gospel,” which is so popular with the fashion-
able members of his rich city congregation and whose
eloquent presentation by him created for him many ad-
mirers, utterly fails to bring peace of mind and heart to
the wounded and dying on Europe’s battlefields, where
patriotic duty has called him to go. As he realizes his
mistake, he determines to bring his hearers the Gospel
of Christ. While welcome to his hearers on battlefield
and in hospital, he finds his new message distasteful to
the members of Graystone when he returns to his con-
gregation at the end of the war. Though tempted to
change his stand to please his fashionable friends, Dr. Day
remains true to his convictions and determines to sacri-
fice honors and fame rather than deny his Savior. It is
an interesting story, engrossingly so, and, besides, most
instructive and profitable. ;