# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1881_S23 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) The Lutheran Pioneer. Beautiful Saviour. “Schanster Herr Jesu.” Beautiful Saviour! King of creation! Son of God and Son of man! Truly ’d love Thee, truly I’d serve Thee, Light of my soul, my Joy, my Crown. Fair are the meadows, fairer the woodlands, Robed in flowers of blooming Spring: Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer; He makes the sorrowing spirit sing. Fair is the sunshine, fairer the moonlight, With the sparkling stars on high: Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer, Than all the angels of the sky. Beautiful Saviour! Lord of the nations! Son of God and son of man! Glory and honor, praise, adoration, Now and for evermore be Thine. ———+ + oo > A Youthful Martyr. In the first ages of the Church of Christ, in the city of Antioch, a believer was carried forth to die as a martyr. ‘‘Ask any little child,’”’ said he, ‘‘ whether it were better to wor- ship one God, the maker of heaven and earth, and one Saviour, who is able to save us, or to worship the many false gods whom the heathen serve?’’ Now, it was so that a Christian mother had come to the spot, holding in her hand a little son, of about nine or ten years old, named Cyril. The heathen judge no sooner heard the martyr’s words than his eyes rested on the child, and he desired the question to be put to him. The question was asked: and, to the surprise of those who heard it, the boy replied, ‘‘God is one, and Jesus Christ is one with the Father.’’ The judge was filled with rage. ‘‘Oh, base Christian!’’ he cried, ‘‘thou hast taught that child to answer thus.’’ Then turning to the boy, he said more mildly, ‘‘Tell me, child, how did you learn this faith?”’ : The boy looked lovingly in his mother’s face, and replied, ‘‘It was God’s grace that taught it to my dear mother, and she taught it to me.’’ ‘Let us now see what the love of Christ can do for you,’’ cried the cruel judge; and at a sign from him, the officers who stood ready with their wooden rods, of the fashion of the Romans, instantly seized the boy. Gladly would the mother have saved her timid dove, even at the cost of her own life, but she could not do so; yet she did whisper to him to trust in the love of Christ, and to speak the truth. “What can the love of Christ do for him now?” asked the judge. “It enables him to endure what his Master endured for him and for us all,’ was the reply. hd again they smote the child. “What can the love of Christ do for him?” nay tears fell even from the eyes of the me ©n, as that mother, as much tortured as ~ 500, answered, ‘It teaches him to forgive 8 Persecutors,”” The boy watched his mother’s eyes as they rose up to heaven for him; and when his tor- mentors asked whether he would not now ac- knowledge the gods they served, and deny Christ, he still said, ‘‘No; there is no other God but one; and Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world. He loved me, and I love Him for His love.” The poor boy now fainted beneath the re- peated strokes, and they cast the bruised body into the mother’s arms, crying, ‘See what the love of your Christ can do for him now!’’ As the mother pressed her child gently to her own crushed heart, she answered, ‘‘That love will take him from the wrath of man to the rest of heaven.” “‘Mother,” cried the dying boy, ‘‘give me a drop of water from our cool well upon my tongue.”’ The mother said, ‘Already, dearest, thou hast tasted of the well that springeth up to everlasting life—the grace which Christ gives to his little ones. Thou hast spoken the truth in love; arise now, for thy Saviour calleth for thee. May he grant thy poor mother grace to follow in the bright path!’’ The little martyr faintly raised his eyes, and said again, “There is but one God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent;’’ and so saying he gave up his life.—Golden Sayings. <>? <> —__ God’s Hiding Place. In the days of the Reformation there lived a learned divine in Germany named Brentius, of Wurtemberg. His godly zeal had at last aroused his enemies, who one day sent a band of soldiers to seize him when they thought he would be off his guard. The soldiers entered the town, but Brentius had time to flee; not, however, without their perceiving him, and they chased him through several streets. He was enabled to outstrip them a little; and then turning quickly into a lane, he found his way up a flight of stairs, at the top of which was a rickety ladder leading up to a hay-loft. He was soon among the hay, concealed and still. The soldiers ran hither and thither, and on coming to the stairs, sought for him, even pok- ing up the points of their bayonets through the boards of the hay-loft, to see if any one moved. Brentius kept still, only shrinking back to es- cape the touch of the bayonets, till the soldiers turned away, concluding that no one was there. So far, this was a good hiding-place; but how was he to live if he continued here? The same Lord who had guided his servant to this retreat, sent him food; for every morning, dur- ing fourteen days, a hen came to the hay-loft and laid an egg in the hay, which furnished Brentius with sustenance sufficient to keep him alive. After the fourteenth day the supply failed, and he was compelled to leave this shelter, and accordingly he cautiously descended into the street. He found that the soldiers had just left the town; so that his friends had now full time and opportunity to get him conveyed away safely to another place. How many ways has God of protecting His own people who trust in Him! ——s-—~+o-<4a-o Cast a Line for Yourself. A young man stood watching some anglers on a bridge. He was poor and dejected. At last, going up to a basket filled with fish, he sighed: “Tf now I had these I would be happy. I could sell them at a fair price and buy me food and lodging.’ “Twill give you just as many and just as good fish,’’ said the owner, who had chanced to overhear his words, ‘‘if you will do me a trifling fayor.’’ “What is it?’’ asked the other. ‘*Only to tend this line till I come back; I wish to go on a short errand.’’ The proposal was gladly accepted. The old man was gone so long that the young man began to get impatient. Meanwhile the hungry fish snapped greedily at the baited hook, and the young man lost all his depression in the excite- ment of pulling them in; and when the owner of the line came back he had caught a large number. Counting out from them as many as were in the basket, and giving them to the young man, the old fisherman said: ‘‘I fulfill my promise from the fish you have caught to teach you whenever you see others earning what you need, to waste no time in fruitless wishing, but cast a line for yourself.’’ ———> ~