The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1879, Page 28

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28 The Lutheran Pioneer.

drink: ‘I have done with all the ministers; I
have not been inside a church for the last ten
years.” And he straightened himself and looked
proudly in his wine-glass. An elderly gentle-
man who, seated apart, had silently listened to
the conversation, now stepped up to the group,
saying, ‘‘O, sir, only for ten years not in church?
—that amounts to nothing at all. There isa
man in my neighborhood, who is forty-six years
old, and he has only been in church once in his
life, and that was when he was baptized.”” All
looked astonished. ‘What is the reason?’
asked the bonster. ‘The reason is’’, answered
the stranger, tapping his forehead significantly,
“the poor fellow is not right here.’’

That finished the boasting infidel.

Luther’s Faithfulness.

doing business. We would advise the eloquent | save the money paid for his salary. Their plan
Ryan to go to Cincinnati and preach on ‘‘The | was that each male member of the congregation
pennies of the poor!”’ should preach in turn. For the first sermon

they selected one of the more intelligent breth-
ren. At 10 o'clock of a certain Sunday the
church was crowded with a congregation curious
to hear their plow-neighbor’s sermon. After
giving out a hymn, reading a prayer and Scrip-
ture lesson at the altar, he ascended the high
pulpit, read his text, and preached the following
sermon. Looking to one side of the church, he
said: ‘‘Weare, and we are.’’ Then he turned
his remarks to the other side of the church:
“We are, and we are’’; and as his eyes turned
to every corner of the building, he went on
saying: ‘“‘We are, and we are.””

One of the hearers who could stand this no
longer, cried out: ‘‘What are we?”’

“Why, fools’, said the preacher, ‘‘else we
would let those preach who are able to do it.”

That congregation was cured. They called
a regular pastor, whom God had given the
necessary talents and who had been educated
for the ministry. And there was no more
trouble about the salary.

——~>—~ o<2> o>
The One Leaf.

Ix the same sermon Mr. Ryan said that there
was more morality among the Roman-catholics
than among the Protestants. Now, please don’t
laugh. The poor man had come all the way
from St. Louis, and he perhaps thought that
at least in New York the Roman-catholics led
very moral lives. He was aroused out of his
sweet dream by the ‘‘New York Times’, which,
after investigating the matter, showed that in
the last seven years 356,539 Roman-catholics
were arrested, and only 106,499 Protestants.
Among the 200,000 Irish Catholics of New
York there were 242,893 arrests made, so that
many of them must have been arrested more
than once. We wonder if the police of New
York are in the habit of arresting men leading
moral lives.

In 1516 the plague prevailed in the city of
Wittenberg, and Luther was advised to flee.
He answered, ‘‘Where shall I go to? I hope
the world will not crumble to ruin if brother
Martin leave it. When the pestilence increases
I will scatter the brethren in all directions, but
Iam placed here and dare not flee. I do not
say this because I have no fear of death, for I
am not the apostle Paul, but only his interpre-
ter; nevertheless I hope that God will deliver
me from all my fears.’’? Luther did not leave
the city during the pestilence, but visited the
sick, and brought consolation to the dying.
God in His mercy protected him against all

danger.

THEY HATE THE Brste.—In a certain district
of Ireland the pope’s people are creating trouble.
A Protestant mission school-house was attacked
by a mob of thirty persons; the house was
wrecked, the windows were broken, the doors
and printing presses destroyed, and the bibles
thrown into the sea. They hate the Bible.

There was once a caravan crossing, I think,
to the north of India, and numbering in its
company a godly and devout missionary. As
it passed on, a poor old man was overcome by
the heat, and, sinking down, was left to perish
on the road. The missionary saw him, and
kneeling down at his side, when the rest had
passed on, whispered into his ear: ‘‘What is
your hope?’’? The dying man raised himself a
little to reply, and with a great effort succeeded
in answering: ‘‘The blood of Jesus Christ His
Son cleanseth us from all sin’’, and immediately
expired with the effort. The missionary was
greatly astonished at the answer, and looking
at the calm and peaceful appearance of the man,
he felt assured he had died in Christ.

‘How, or where’’, thought the missionary,
“could this man, living among heathens, have
got this hope?’”’ And as he thought of it, he
observed a piece of paper tightly clasped in the
hand of the corpse. He succeeded in getting
this out, and what do you think was his surprise
and delight when he found it to be a single leaf
of the Bible containing the first chapter of the
First Epistle of John, in which these words
occur: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son
cleanseth us from all sin.’’ (John 1, 7.)

On that page the man had found the Gospel.
OBE.

One of the 19 graduates of our Lutheran
Teachers’ Seminary has accepted a call to our
*mission-school at Little Rock. May the Lord
bless his labors among the colored children.

—_—— +? oo
“I wave taken much pains’’, says a very
learned man, ‘‘to know every thing that was
thought worth knowing amongst men; but with
all my readings, nothing now remains with me
to comfort me, at the close of life, but this
passage of St. Paul: ‘It is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came
into the world to save sinners.’ To this I cleave,
and herein I find rest.’’
+o o>
He who preaches most of Christ to sinners
may expect to preach most sinners to Christ.

THE ‘‘Mission-Dove’’, our German mission-
paper, has already over 13,000 subscribers. Our
‘‘Pioneer’’—well, our little friend seems to get
along rather slowly. He seems to have a harder
road to travel, and the little ‘‘Dove’’ has soared
far above him. We know our little ‘‘Pioneer’
is doing well enough for his size and age. Still
we would like to see him ‘‘brace up”, and get
along a little faster. We wish to state here in
reply to some inquiries, that the money made
by the sale of the ‘‘Pioneer’’ does not go into
our pocket. Oh, no, no! It is all put into the
mission-box, so that all the readers of the ‘‘Pio-
neer”’ help along our mission among the colored
people. We are sorry that some people thought
We were making money, we are very sorry,
and welatiec our window.

—— Po ee
A short, but striking Sermon.

Vorrati Voot’s Brste History for Christian
Schools, revised; together with a Short Church
History and_a map of Palestine. _Rewritten by
B. J. Muus, Pastor. Published by Lutheran Pub-
lishing House, Decorah, Iowa. Price per single
copy bound in cloth 30 cents.

Hymw Boox for the use of Evangelical Lutheran
Schools and Congregations. Lutheran Publishin;
House, Decorah, Iowa. Price per single copy boun:
in cloth 40 cents.

TERMS:

Tne Lurieran Pioneer is published monthly,
payable in advance at the following rates, postage
included, tows

1

The members of a certain congregation in the
country were rather close with their money.
The good pastor had at first been receiving a
bare support, and as time passed on his little
salary beeame less every year, at length to
about forty dollars. With this he could no
longer support his family. A congregational
meeting was called to see what the members
would do about it. They were not only opposed
to an increase of salary, but adopted a resolu-
‘tion to do without a regular pastor, and thus

-

——_s- +o oo oe
A Mocker Silenced.

Several gentlemen and ladies belonging to
what is called highly-refined society, were at a
fashionable watering place discussing different
subjects, among others that of religion. They
talked all kind of nonsense, while drinking their
lemonade and wine. One of the set, a pompous
gentleman, remarked, after taking a good

Vey GD crerrecronceonnmncnay 4.00

Club rates only allowed if all copies are to be sent
to one address.

All business communications to be addressed to
»Luth. Concordia Publishing House“, M. C. Bar-
THEL, Agt., St. Louis, Mo. . yee
All communications concerning the editorial de-
parunent to be addressed to Pror. R. A. Biscnorr

‘oncordia College, Fort Wayne, Ind.