# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1903_S3 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) | | | ‘he lutheran Pioneer. 3 EE Trust. Though a cloud is laid over the future, And a veil is before my eyes, Though the coming day seem darkness On which no sun shall arise, I will trust all my ways to the Father Who careth for me and mine. I will pray, “O Lord, enfold them With Thy tenderness divine; Go with them, O my Father, Wherever they may stray, And bring their fect, I pray Thee, Into the narrow way.” And then I will trust in the promise That is given to all who grieve, “If ye ask in faith believing, Ye surely shall receive.”’ Selected, ———_—- o<== > eo “What is the Next Station?” This was the question, writes a pastor, which I asked of the station master, as I sat waiting for the train. I had gone some miles into the country to visit an aged lady who was very sick and whose house was close by the railway station; and, having finished my call, I was sitting in the waiting room until the returning train should arrive. I found myself alone with the depot master —an aged man with white hair and a face which told of care and hard work. ‘““What is the next station?’ I inquired, being unacquainted with the road. “The next station is the last,’’ he answered. “It is the end of the line. You passed a good many stopping places coming out, sir; but there is only one more as you go on.” There was a pause for 2 moment in the con- versation; then, evidently understanding my errand, he asked: ‘‘Hlow is the old lady, sir?” ~ “She is fast nearing the last station,”’ I re- plied. ‘‘She is very sick; and besides, she is Seventy years old and has reached the end of life as laid down in the Book; for you know the Bible says that ‘the days of our years are three-score years and ten’ —seventy years— that is, seventy stations.”’ There was quite a pause in the conversation again, during which the old man seemed to be thinking. Then he said: ‘According to that, I suppose, I may be pretty near the end of my route, since I am just turning seventy. Well, I am not sorry. I have worked hard, and have seen a good deal of trouble, and I shall not feel badly to get through.’’ “‘What is the next station?’ I asked ab- Tuptly. ‘You say you are nearing the end of your journey of life, and that you have passed Seventy stations already. What is the next Station ?’” ‘“Ah, nobody knows about that!’’ he an- Swered. ‘‘We know about the past, but what is going to be hereafter no one can tell. I only hope that I shall be better off in the next world than I have’been in this; but I cannot say cer- tainly, for no one has ever come back from that world to tell us anything about it.”” “Ah, but you are mistaken there!’’ I inter- rupted. ‘‘There is One who has come back and told us about the future life. Do you not know that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, ‘and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel’ ?”’ “‘Who are you?’’ the old man asked ab- ruptly. ‘‘I thought you were a doctor who had come out to visit the old lady. I guess I am mistaken, sir?” “Yes,’’ I answered; ‘‘you are not quite cor- rect. I am a minister of the Gospel, rather, and my calling is very much like yours. I am trying to help men on their journey through life, to answer their questions about the route, and especially to persuade them to believe on the Son of God, that they may have eternal life and land at last in glory.’’ ‘‘Well, there may be a better world beyond the grave, and there may not be. We don’t know,’’ he continued. ‘Don’t know!’’ I said, pressing the point with all earnestness on his heart. ‘We do know. How could I preach the Gospel and urge men to seek for glory and immortality, unless I knew certainly that there is a world of life and blessedness hereafter? Why, sir, what will people think of you if, in reply to their question, ‘What is the next station?’ you should say, ‘I don’t know. Nobody knows’? And so I could not preach the Gospel and urge men to seek for heaven and eternal blessed- ness, unless I was perfectly sure of this reality. Paul, the great preacher of the Gospel, knew what the next station was: ‘We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis- solved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.’ This is his answer to the great question, ‘What shall be hereafter?’ And if you will believe in Jesus Christ, and take His Gospel as your guide book, you can know just as well as Paul what the next station beyond the tomb shall be for you.”’ Just then the whistle of the approaching train sounded, and the old man hastened about his work. As I stepped upon the platform of the car, he stood at the crossing waving his signal flag, his white hair floating in the wind, and I said, as the train moved out, ‘‘Be sure you find out what the next station is before you reach the end.”” And I heard the reply falling rather hesitatingly on my ear, ‘I will try, sir.”’ Reader, what answer have you to make to this question? In the hurrying train of life you are moving swiftly on. Ever and anon there is a pause, and some passenger steps off and disappears. The next stopping place may be yours; where will it land you? “To depart and be with Christ,” is one an- swer to the question—with the Lord in Para- dise. There are multitudes who are just as certain of that destination, when their time comes, a8 they are of the truth of God’s Word. And they are ready’at any moment for the change. ' There are others to whom death is only a step in the dark. Young man, to whom the Summons may come very suddenly and un- expectedly to disembark, are you sure where you will be when life is ended? Old man, to whom the end must certainly be very near, are you certain what shall be your destiny beyond the grave? Put to yourselves these serious questions and let conscience answer, if you are without God and without hope in the world. If you have true faith in Jesus Christ, then let Scripture answer, with a hope sure and steadfast. Be careful that you know what the next station is! —_—— +P oe Seeing the Bright Side. An old colored woman once said to a North- ern man, who was very ill with fever in Vicks- burg, and who was very sad-hearted, ‘‘Massa, does yo’ see de bright side dis mornin’ ?” “No, Nanny,’’ said he, ‘‘it isn’t so bright as I wish it.” ‘Well, massa, I allus see de bright side.’’ ‘Maybe you haven’t had much trouble,’”’ was the reply. ‘‘Mebbe not,” she said; and then she went on to tell him, in her simple, broken way, of her life in Virginia, of the selling of her children one by one, of the auction sale of her husband, and then of herself. She was then alone in camp, with- out having heard from one of her kindred for years. ‘‘Mebbe I ain’t seen no trouble, massa.’’ ‘But, Nanny,’’ said he, ‘have you seen the bright side all the time?’ ‘*‘Allus, massa, allus.’’ ‘‘Well, how did you do it?” “Dis isde way, massa. When I see the brack cloud comin’ over, an’ ’pears like it’s comin’ crushin’ down on me, den I jist whips aroun’ on de oder side, an’ I find de Lord Jesus dar, an’ den it’s all bright and clar. De bright side’s allus where Jesus is.’’ ——s-+o-4P or oo A Debt of Honor. Booker T. Washington in his book, ‘‘Up from Slavery,’’ tells this story of a negro slaye’s honor: An ex-slave from Virginia had contracted with his master, two or three years previous to the Emancipation Proclamation, to buy himself by paying so much per year, and meanwhile he was permitted to labor where and for whom he pleased. Finding that he could secure better wages in Ohio, he went there. When freedom came he was still in debt to his master some three hundred dol- lars. Notwithstanding that the Emancipation Proclamation freed him from any obligation to his master, this black man walked the greater portion of the distance back to where his old master lived in Virginia, and placed the last dollar, with interest, in his hands. This man told me that he knew he did not have to pay the debt, but that he had given his word to his master, and he felt that he could not enjoy his freedom until he had fulfilled his promise.