# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1881_S41 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) The Lutheran Pi ionecr. A MISSIONARY MONTHILIY. PusiisHeD BY THE EVANGELICAL LurnHeraN SyNnopicAL CONFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. Ul. St. Louis, Mo., November, 1881. No. 11. Shelter against the Storm. It was a fine morning when the boats sailed out into the sea. But during the day the wind rose, and when evening cante, the sea that had sparkled in the bright sunny morning was tossed up and down in high billows. The thick clouds made the darkness set in early, and every thing about and above seemed to tell that there would be a stormy night. Most of the fishing- boats had come back and found shelter in the village harbor. But there was one fishing-boat that had sailed out with the rest that fine morning, but which did not come back with the others. The men on board knew the wind was rising, they knew the storm would come, they knew the harbor | | _was_open_for_them;, but trusting in their own strength they thought they could brave the wind, and did not heed its warning voice, and would not seek shelter in the harbor. And so the darkness came on, and the deeper tones of the howling-storm sounded over the sea, and the boat was seized and driven on, driven on to the rocks that lined the coast, and was dashed to pieces by the fury of the angry waves, which, as if in triumph, leaped and danced to the wild music of the howling storm. And the next morning’s sun rose over a miserable and total wreck. My dear reader it is because the storm is brewing, and the black clouds of Judgment are rising, that God warns men to flee from the wrath to come. - Let us heed the signs of our time! ‘The spread of infidelity among the high :and the low, the spread of false doctrines and ‘of the pope’s antichristian kingdom, the many disasters on the Jand and on the sea, the vast idevastations by fire and by water, the many mmurders which are of almost daily occurrence, tthe preaching of the Gospel in all the world as m witness unto all the nations—they all tell us tthat the day of the Lord is at hand, which evil come as a thief in the night; in the which tthe heavens shall pass away with a great noise, tand the elements shall melt with fervent heat, tthe earth also; and the works that are therein sshall be burned up,”’ 2 Peter 3, 10. _ There isa place of shelter against the coming sitorm. There is a place of safety opened by God for all sinners. There is a harbor of grace pointed out to us in the Gospel. The loving arms of Jesus that were stretched upon Cal- vary’s cross, when He bled and died for our sins, are opened wide in the sweet Gospel to receive and to keep all who come to Him. It is the only place of safety. Let us flee to that harbor! Having found shelter and rest there, we need not fear the coming storm. ‘The day of the Lord’s coming will be a day of joy to us. Those strong arms of Jesus will carry us away from the storm, away from the clashing ele- ments, up to the haven of eternal rest and heavenly joy. “© sinner, seek His grace Whose wrath you cannot bear, Fly to the shelter of His cross, and Tltrelvation there.’ “And then?” A bright youth came with hurried steps to an aged and pious man and cried out, ‘‘Rejoice with me, my father! My uncle has at last, at last, given his consent, I may now go to the University and become a Jurist.’ “Good, my son,” said the old man, ‘“‘now you will begin to learn diligently, but—what then?’’ “After three years I will pass my examina- tiony and, surely, crowned with honor, will leave the University and enter upon my pro- fession.’’ = “And then?’’ “Then I will not lack in diligence and con- scientiousness; men will speak of me at home and abroad, the noble and the common people will seek me and grant me their confidence!”’ “And then?” “Then I will be saving and become a wealthy man, secure a good wife and ON my own family!” “And. then?” “Then I will train my children that they may become useful, each in that for which it has the necessary talents; they will do well and follow in the footsteps of their father.” “And then?” “Then I will retire and rest, rejoice in the prosperity of my children, share their love and enjoy old age full of blessings.”” “And then?”’ “Then? Well—we cannot always remain on earth, and if we could, it would not even be good for us—then? Well, it is true, then— I must die.” “And then?” said the old man, grasping both hands of the youth and gazing into his eyes, ‘‘and then, my son, and then?” The color of the youth changed, he began to tremble, and tears flowed from his eyes. “Thanks to you, my father’’, said he ‘at last, “T had forgotten the chief matter, that it is appointed unto men to die, and then the Judg- ment. But from this day it shall not vecur again.”’—From the German. ———s + oo Preparation for Eternity. There was a certain nobleman who kept a fool, to whom he one day gave a staff, with a charge to keep it till he should meet with one who was a greater fool than himself: Not many years after, the nobleman. fell sick, even unto death. The fool came to see him. His sick lord said to him, ‘I must shortly leave you.’ “And whither are you going?’ said the fool. ‘‘Into another world,’’ replied his lordship, “(And when will you return? within C month?”? —‘No.’—“ Within a year?”—“No.”—‘*When then?’’—“‘ Never!’’—‘“Never?”’ said the fool. ‘“‘And what provision have you made for your entertainment there, whither you are going?’’. — ‘None at all.”—‘‘No!”’ said the fool, ‘“‘none at all! Here, then, take my'staff; for, with all my folly, Iam not guilty of any such folly as this.”’—From the German. a ae Dr. Taytor, of Norwich, said to me: “‘Sir, I have collated every, word -in.the Hebrew Scriptures seventeen ‘times; and it is very strange if the doctrine of the Atonement, which you hold, is there, and I have not found it.’’ I am not surprised at this. I once went to light my candle with the extinguisher on. Now prejudice from education, learning, etc., often forms an extinguisher. It is not enough to bring the candle; you must remove the ex- tinguisher.—John Newton.