The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1880, Page 31

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‘The Lutheran Pioneer.

The Life of Dr. Martin Luther. of truth.’ He then lay quietly with folded
hands and closed eyes. His friends spoke to
him, but he gave no answer. Then Dr. Jonas
asked him in a Joud voice: ‘‘ Reverend father,

are you willing to die in firm adherence to

Luther died in peace at Eisleben, the place|Christ and the doctrine which you have

of his birth. On the evening of the 17th of preached?’’ To this he answered so distinctly
February, he complained of a pain in his chest, | that all could hear it: “Yes.’’ This was his
to which he was subject. He took the medi-|Jast word. He turned upon his right side and
cine which was given him and, at about 8 o'clock, slept about a quarter of an hour. Some of
laid himself upon his couch, saying: ‘If I could | those present again began to hope for his re-
slumber a half hour it would, I hope, become covery, when his face became deathly pale;
better.’’ He then slept quietly until-10 o'clock, his hands and feet became cold; he drew one
when he awoke and arose, saying as he entered | more deep, gentle breath, and yielded up his
his bed-room: “In the name of God I go to spirit-into the hands of his faithful God. He
rest; into Thy hands I commit my spirit; Thou | thus fell asleep in the Lord, gently and peace-
hast redeemed me, Lord God of truth;”’ and, fully, on the 18th of February, 1546, between
reaching out his hand, and bidding all good | two and three o'clock in the morning, aged 62
night, he said: “Pray for our Lord God and years, 3 months, and 8 days. So long as there
His Gospel, that it may prosper.’’ He slept | are lovers of a pure Gospel the name and deeds
well till one o’clock, when he awoke and wished of Martix LutuHer will never die.

the room to be warmed. As the room had
been kept warm all night, Dr. Jonas asked
whether he felt a chill, and was worse. Luther} The Silver Dollar; or, How God Provides.
said, ‘‘O Lord God, how ill I am! Ah, dear BY MRS. H. C. KNIGUT.

Dr. Jonas, I believe I shall remain here at Eis-
leben, where I was born and baptized.” He} It was a season of great scarcity on the hill
then arose, and walked into the little sitting- regions of New-Hampshire, when a poor woman,
room, repeating the words; ‘‘Into Thy hands] who lived in a hut by the woods, had no bread
I commend my spirit; Thou hast redeemed me, | for her little family. She was sick, without
Lord God of truth.’ He walked back and|either friends or money; there was uo helper
forth in the room several times, and then laid| but God, and she betook herself to prayer.
down on the couch, complaining of great op-|She prayed long—she prayed in earnest; for
pression on the breast. He was rubbed with] she believed that He who fed the young ravens,
warm cloths and soon broke out into a perspira-| would feed her.

tion. Then his friends, especially the counts} On rising from her knees one morning, her
who had come in haste to see him, expressed | little bare-footed girl opened the door to go
the hope that he would now soon recover, but | out. Something shining on the sill stopped her.
he said: ‘Yes, it is the cold sweat of death; |The child stooped down, and behold, a silver
I shall yield up my spirit, for the sickness|dollar! She ran and took it to her mother.
grows worse.’’ He then prayed in these words: | It really was a new, round, bright silver dollar.
“O my heavenly Father, the God and Father |They looked up and down the road; not a liv-
of our Lord Jesus Christ, Thou God of all con-| ing person was in sight, and neither footsteps
solation, I thank Thee that Thou hast revealed | or wagon wheels were to be heard.

to me Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, in whom I] Where did the dollar come from? Did God
believe, whom I have preached and confessed, | send it? Doubtless it was from His hand; but
whom I have loved and extolled, whom the per-| how did it get there? Did it rain down? No.
nicious pope and all the ungodly dishonor, per-} Did He throw it from the windows of heaven?
secute and blaspheme. I pray Thee, Lord|No. Did an angel fetch it? No. God has
Jesus Christ, receive my soul into Thy care. | ways and means for answering prayer without
O heavenly Father, although I must leave this | sending special messengers. He touches some
body and be torn away from this life, yet know | little spring in the great machinery of his pro-
I assuredly that I shall be with Thee forever | vidence, without in the least disturbing its re-
and that no one can pluck me out of Thy gularity, and help comes. Sometimes we do
hands.” not see exactly how, us this poor woman did not;

He also said in Latin: ‘‘God so loved the] then it seems to come more directly from Him,

- world that He gave His only-begotten Son, | while, in fact, our all being taken care of, ever
that whosoever believeth in Him should not|since we were born, comes just as directly from
perish, but have everlasting life;” and the Him, only He employs so many people to do it
words of the 68. Psalm: ‘He that is our God —fathers, mothers, servants, shop-keepers, that
is the God of salvation, and unto God the Lord | we are apt to lose sight of Him, and fix our eye
belong the issues from death.” A physician only on them.
offered him a tonic, which he took and again| But how did the silver dollar get on the
said, ‘‘I pass away, I shall yield up my spirit,’”| door sill? some boy may ask. It happened
after which he three times repeated the words | that a pious young blacksmith was going down
in Latin: “Father, into Thy hands I commend | to the seaboard, in quest of business. It was
my spirit; Thou hast redeemed me; Lord God | several miles before he could take the stage

XIX.
LUTHER'S DEATH.

coach; so, instead of going in the wagon which
carried his chest, he said he would walk.
‘Come, ride,” they said, ‘it will be hot and
dusty.’’ He kept answering “No,” to all his
friends. ‘T’ll walk, and take a short cut
through the pines;”’ and off he started with a
stout walking stick. As he was jogging on
through a piece of woods, he heard a voice
from a little lonely hut by the roadside. It
drew his notice, and he stepped towards it on
tip-toe; then he stopped and listened, and found
it was the voice of prayer, and he gathered
from the prayer that she who offered it was
poor, sick, and friendless.

“What can I do to help this poor woman?’
thought the young man. He did not like to
go into the hut. He clapped his hand into his
pocket and drew out a dollar—the first silver
dollar he ever had, and a dollar was a big sum
for him to give; for he was not as rich then as
he is now. But no matter; he felt that the
poor woman must have it. The dollar being
silver, and likely to attract notice as soon as
the door was open, he concluded to lay it on
the sill and go away, but not far; for he hid
behind a large rock near the house, to watch
what became of it. Soon he had the satisfac-
tion of seeing the little girl come out and seize
the prize, when he went on his way rejoicing.
The silver dollar came into the young man’s
hand for this very purpose; for, you sce, a paper
dollar might have blown away: and he was led
to walk instead of ride—why, he did not exactly
know; but God, who directed his steps, did
know. So God plans, and we are the instru-
ments to carry on his plans. Oftentimes we
seem to be about our own business when we are
about his, answering, it may be, the prayers ot
his_people. :

The young blacksmith is now in middle life:
he has been greatly prospered, and given away
his hundreds since; but perhaps he never en-
joyed giving more than when he gave his first
silver dollar. >

—> ~~ o~<

Think of the Right Side.

Who has not seen his mother, wife or sister
make‘a tidy. I the other day watched, while
one was being made, the interlacing of the
many-colored threads. I took it in my hands
to look at it, and, as men generally do, I looked
on the wrong side. It was all confusion. There
was no beauty or harmony about it. But when
I turned it over and saw the right side, then I
saw the reason for every stitch, as forming part
of a beautiful design. — So we in this life look
upon the work of God. We see it on the wrong
side. Every thing looks out of place and mixed
and wrong. But when we see the other side,
we will find, that not anything happened to us,
that was needless. We will see that all went to
perfect a great and beautiful plan.

THERE is a way to keep a man out of hell,
but no way to get a man out of hell. .