# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1901_S39 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) The Lutheran Pioneer. 39 Church at Ejisleben. Eisleben was the birthplace of Dr. Luther. He was born in that city, November 10, 1483, and baptized on the following day. At that time there were two churches in the town. Our picture shows us the larger of the two. Itis a large, stately building with four towers. In this church Luther preached several times during the last days of his life, and here also preached his last sermon. In the city in which he was born he also died, February 18, 1546. In the last sermon which he preached in that church he exhorted his hearers to dismiss all the wisdom of this world and to keep stead- fast only to the Word of our dear Lord and Master, who invited all them that labor and are heavy laden to come to Him. In the afternoon of February 19, Justus Jonas preached his funeral sermon in this church. His corpse was - left in the church during the night, guarded by ten citizens, and was then taken to Witten- berg. —+ + oe > God’s Protecting Care. A STORY OF THE REFORMATION. John Brentz, the Wuertem- berg Reformer, was at one time the guest of Duke Ulrich, in Stuttgart. In some way the Ro- man Catholic Cardinal Gran- vella heard of it. To the surprise of everybody, there appeared one evening in Mu- nich a troop of Spanish dra- goons. The colonel announ- ced his presence to the Elector of Bavaria, and was by him invited to dinner. Here he let it slip that he was the bearer of a sealed im- perial order to the Duke of Wuertemberg, to the effect that he was to deliver Brentz, dead or alive, into his (the colonel’s) hands. An aunt of the Duchess of Wuertemberg, who was seated at the table, on hearing this, withdrew without being noticed, and at once wrote to Duke Ulrich, sending the letter that very night by a special messenger, with strict orders to carry it at once to the Duke in Stuttgart, and to return by a roundabout way, so as not to fall into the hands of the dragoons. As soon as the Duke had read the letter, he called Brentz and informed him of the affair, but enjoined upon him not to answer him with aword. He read the Munich letter to him, and commanded him to at once retire and hide himself in the most secluded spot he could find, but not to tell him where, so that, when asked, he could truthfully swear that he did not know his whereabouts. For the moment Brentz was too terrified to speak, but collect- ing himself, he bowed, and silently withdrew. Touched by his action, the Duke called him back, saying, ‘‘If you are dear to God, He will watch over you.”” Brentz took a loaf of bread, went quietly out of the house, and soon found himself in the upper part of the city. He entered the first house whose door stood open, ascended the steps unnoticed, and was soon in the garret, where, in a dark corner, beneath a pile of wood, he found a hole about his size, into which he crept, and found a vacant space under the eaves, where he re- mained. The very next day the colonel and his dra- goons reached Stuttgart, garrisoned the city gate and the ducal palace, and assumed full control of affairs. Ulrich, of course, was in- terviewed, but took oath that he did not know was not in Stuttgart, called his troops together, and was soon miles away. Now, how did Brentz live for fourteen days without water? At noon of the very first day a hen stole quietly up to the garret, and between the woodpile and the angle of the roof laid an egg. She left as quietly as she came, instead of cackling as the manner of hensis. Brentz took the egg as from the hand of God, cut a slice of bread from his loaf, and ate his lunch with s thankful heart. Every day at the same time the hen came and laid an egg, and so Brentz received his daily bread. The very day the troops left the hen did not come, and he heard the people say: ‘‘They are gone.’’ That very evening he went to the ducal palace and showed himself to Ulrich, who, after he had heard the story, took Brentz to the window, and kneeling there poured out his thankful heart to God. —Se- lected. Church at Eisleben. where Brentz was in hiding, but gave the colo- nel full permission to search for him, and to take him dead or alive. At once the soldiers began the disagreeable work of searching house after house in the city, opening every chest and running their Spanish swords and spears through every featherbed and chaff- bag they came across. For fourteen days they kept at it, untilon that very day they reached the street in which stood the house in which the fugitive was concealed. From day to day he had heard the people in the street telling of the doings of the soldiery, and now they were here! With their swords clanking they strode from room toroom. The Reformer on his knees heard them coming nearer and nearer to his hiding-place. Now! here they are in the very garret! One soldier stuck his blade so close to Brentz that he had to move his head to avoid being pricked. At last they were through, and he heard the command, ‘Go, heis not here!’? The commandant him- self, now thoroughly convinced that the man ~ oo Nowhere. Remove Christ from the Scriptures and they will become an empty shell. Every word in the Scriptures points at Him, since the Scrip- tures were revealed to the holy men who wrote them for His sake. — Luther. ;