# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1884_S3 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) ‘The Lutheran Pioneer. 3 Psalm 37, 5. Commit thou all thy gricfs And ways into His hands, To His sure truth and tender care, Who earth and heaven commands; Who points the clouds their course, Whom winds and seas obey, He shall direct thy wandering feet, He shall prepare thy way. Thou on the Lord rely, So safe shalt thou go on; Fix on His work thy steadfast eye, So shall thy work be done. No profit canst thou gain By self-consuming care; To Him commend thy cause; His ear Attends the softest prayer. —Paul Gerhardt. —<_er-—- Who Lit the Lamps? Upon the rocky coast of Cornwall, there ‘stood some years ago, and may be standing yet, an old fashioned light-house. It was placed amid some dangerous rocks, and was found a great blessing to mariners, in directing them in dark and stormy nights. You would have thought that everybody would have been glad that the light-house stood upon those rocks, and rejoiced in the good it did. But they did not. There was a set of wicked men who looked upon that light-house with very angry eyes, and often wished some storm would come and sweep it away. They longed to see the vessels wrecked, that they might gather some of the spoil that came from their destruction. These wicked men were called ‘‘wreckers’’; and when stormy nights came on, they might be seen looking out for their prey, and even kindling large lights upon the shore to deceive the ships, lead them out of the way, and get them dashed to pieces on the rocks. Still the light-house stood, watched over and kept by the merciful eye and arm of a kind protecting God. It was inhabited, at the time Iam writing about, by a kind man and his little girl; and it is about this little girl my story must be told. She had a very pious mother, who as she died, had given her holy counsels, and left her a large favorite Bible as her property. You may be sure the Jast words of her dear mother were not soon forgotten; while the Bible she had left was looked upon with no little reverence and love. The light-house was so placed upon the rocks that, at low water, when the tide was out, you could walk from it to the shore; but at high water nobody could get to it, as no boat could ride in safety among the breakers and the rocks. All the food the inmates needed, and all other things they used, were thus brought to them, or fetched by them at low water, and the man of the light-house had often to go on shore for them.—One day he had gone as usual, leaving his little girl alone in the light-house, when some of the ‘‘wreckers’’ seized him, and deter- mined to prevent his going back to light his lamps, in the hope that some ship would thus be wrecked. The poor man was in great dis- tress when he found he was the prisoner of these wicked men, and he begged hard to be allowed to return. But in vain; there they kept him till Jong after the tide came in, and the dark night had gathered, and it became impossible for him to return. At last they let him go, and he stood upon the shore in great distress. The night was gradually become a very stormy one. The wild winds roared furi- ously. The rain fell in torrents. The light- ning flashed. ‘The thunder rolled terrifically. The sea dashed furiously around the light- house, sometimes covering it entirely with its waves. What was he todo? The lantern at the top of his house was yet all dark. He could see some ships in the distance, and he trembled lest they should be wrecked for want of his lamps being lighted. He knew his little girl was all alone, and too little to do anything to help the difficulty; so there he stood in deep distress, while around him stood the savage wreckers, glorying in the success of their wicked scheme, when, all of a sudden, the lantern of the light-house was lighted up, and its bright and glowing rays shot far across the dark and The wreckers were filled with The sailors, far off in the ships, were delighted as they caught its beams; and the kind man himself was over- come with surprise and joy, while he exclaimed, troubled sea. anger when they saw it. “Who has lit the lamp!’’ * Very distressed indeed was the little girl when she found her father did not return as she had expected. She watched the tide come rolling up and covering the rocks, so cutting She heard the wind get up, and trembled as she felt it rock the light-house. She noticed the dark night setting in, and saw the storm beginning to rise. She looked out, and there she caught a glimpse of the ships in the distance, and knew if the lamps were not lighted they would probably be wrecked, and in her distress she began to think what could she do. At last a text of Scripture, ane of her mother’s last words, came into her mind: ‘‘Call upon me in the day of trouble, So down she knelt, and prayed earnestly to God to help her in her trouble, and, rising walked up to the lantern at the top of the tower to see if she could light the lamps herself. She saw the long stick with which her father lit them, but she was far too little to reach them. Down stairs accordingly she went, and, with great labor, dragged up a table, and climbed on to it, and tried again, but still she could not reach the lamps. Down again she went to seek for something more to stand on, when her eye fell on her mother’s large Bible, which she carried up with great labor into the lantern, and Jaid it on the table. Then, climbing up, she stood tip-toe on the book, and to her joy found she could just reach In a minute all the lamps were off all the way to shore. and I will deliver thee.’’ the lamps. lighted, and the lantern blazed out, to the joy of the sailors in the ships, the surprise and gladness of her father, and the shame and dis- appointment of the wicked wreckers on the shore. Such is my little story, It is quite true; and as I have told it to you, I have been think- ing of other mariners and wreckers than those on the coasts of Cornwall. I have been think- ing of a world of people all in danger of missing their way, and being forever ruined by the re- sults of folly and of sin. I have thought of wreckers in the shape of wicked men and youths, who would fain blight and destroy those by whom they are surrounded, and I have thought of the Church of God, with the light of truth, and the means of presenting the way of peace and safety in her possession, as a light- house for the world, in which also you, my dear reader, may help to kindle the lamps, and save some poor voyager for eternity from destruction and woe.—JZ. DL. 1 +0-