The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1880, Page 43

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

43

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The pastor told him that it was Satan’s voice
that whispered unto him, ‘‘too late.’”’ But in
vain was he told of the dying thief, of the blood
that cleanseth from all sin, of the grace that
saves the chief of sinners, of the welcome given
to the prodigal, of the call of love sounding out
at the eleventh hour. The only answer was a
groan of despair, and in a little while lifting his
hand as if waving back the shadows, he mur-
mured, ‘Last Sunday night! last Sunday
night!’’ he moved his head convulsively on the
pillow, the death rattle was heard in his throat
and he was gone. His young wife who had
been bending over him fell upon the bed, and
the minister said to the mother, ‘Look to your
daughter; she has fainted.’’ But after calling
and shaking her, she suddenly started up with
a scream to flee from the room—a raving
maniac.

A Warning.

1. There shall come a-night of such wild affright,
As none besides shall know:
When the heaven shall shake, and the wide earth
quake
In its last and deepest woe.

2. What horrors shall roll o’er the Godless soul,
Waked from its death-like sleep;

Of all hope bereft, and to Judgment left,
For ever to wail and weep!

8. O worldling, give ear, while the saints are near!
Soon must the tie be riven,

And men, side by side, God’s hand shall divide,
As far as hell’s depths from heaven.

4. What an awful cry will rend the sky,
“Open to us, O Lord!”’

O ye sinners, yet, ere the door be shut,
Let that cry in faith be heard.

5. Now poised on their wing, Ict the angels sing
Over your repenting soul;

In this little while, though never so vile,
Crist JEsus can make you whole.

As the pastor went home along the silent
streets, and facing the biting wind, he could
only pray that God would spare him the agony
of witnessing another such scene. But alas!
what groups are gathered every day around

6. And then, in that night of such wild affright,
As none beside shall know,
Ye shall calmly rest on His tender breast,

Just as they came to the last yerse—

“When Thou wouldst all our need supply,
Who then shall stay Thy hands?”
there was a knock at the window. It was an
old friend, a raven, that Dobry’s grandfather
had taken out of the nest and tamed, and then
set at liberty. Dobry opened the window; the
raven hopped in, and in his bill there was a
ring set with precious stones. Dobry thought
he would sell the ring; but again he thought
that he would take and show it to his minister;
and he, who saw at once by the crest that it
belonged to King Stanislaus, took it to him, and
related the story. The King sent for Dobry and
rewarded him so that he was no more in need;
and the next year built him a new house, and
gave him cattle from his own herd; and over
the house-door there was an iron tablet, whereon
is carved a raven with a ring in his beak, and
underneath the verse:
“Thou everywhere hast sway,
And all things show thy might;

Thy every act pure blessing is,
Thy path unsullied light!”

Christless and hopeless death-beds. How many
of those that have heard the Gospel die unbe-
lieving and are therefore damned! For it is
plainly written, ‘‘He that believeth not, shall
be damned’? (Mark 16, 16.); ‘‘and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the
wrath of God abideth on him’? (John 3, 36.).
Many who thus die in their sins did not expect
to leave this world without faith in Christ's
atoning sacrifice. But they put off their con-
version from day to day, until they were sud-
denly taken away into an eternity of woe.
How often does Satan, the great enemy of our

Far off from the world’s last woe. Se

A Child’s Prayer.

Selected.

——————— © —<——____

Last Sunday Night.

A little girl, about five years old, lived with
her parents, who were very poor, in a small
cottage in a village in Prussia. One day, when
her father went out, little Rosa was sitting by
her mother, who was just recovering from an
attack of fever, which had weakened her very
much. She wassinginga little hymn, when the
door opened suddenly, and six soldiers walked
into the room. The poor child was so terrified

A pastor, whom we know well as a lover of
truth, relates the following sad incident, he
himself being the minister of whom the story
speaks:

On a cold and stormy night a pastor was
aroused from his slumber between one and two
o'clock and called to visit adying man. It was
not long before he came to the street and the

house that had been pointed out, and was taken
to an upper room. A single glance took ina
sad scene. A man not more than twenty-five
years of age was gasping for breath. -The
clammy sweat was on his face, his eyes were
rolling wildly, and it could be clearly seen that
he had only a few minutes to live. On one
side of him was his young wife wearing an
expression of deep grief and horror; on the
other side was his mother with her head bowed
in speechless sorrow. At the foot of the bed
was a cradle with an infant quietly sleeping,
and before the fire stood a doctor looking down,
as if he knew that he was powerless in the
presence of death.

The pastor took the hand, that felt like the
hand of a corpse, in his own, and said, ‘““My
friend, you are dying, and I have come to tell
you of Jesus.’’ ‘‘Too late! too late!’’ hoarsely
whispered the sufferer. ‘‘I was at your church
Jast Sunday night, and was deeply impressed
by the sermon. I knew I was a sinner and
needed salvation, but as I went home I thought
that I was young, and had just started.into
business, and made up my mind that I would
put off the subject for a few years. Now Iam
dying, and I have sent for you, not to talk to
me, but to pray that my wife and child may
not go to the-world of woe I am about to
enter.”’

men’s ears, ‘Time enough!”

wiles and tricks of Satan!

vation (2 Cor. 6, 2.).

—— +--+

The Lord will Provide.

theran hymn:

“Commit thou all thy griefs
And ways into His hands.”

souls, play his tricks with poor sinners! When
they hear the Gospel call, then Satan paints
sin and the sinful pleasures of the world in
bright and beautiful colors, and whispers in
And when con-
science, perhaps on the dying-bed, is aroused,
then he tells sinners that their sins are too
many and too great, and that there is no grace
for them, and whispers in their ears, ‘‘Too late!
too late!’? Oh, my dear reader, beware of the
Do not listen to the
devil’s voice, but listen to the voice of your
true and merciful God: ‘‘Behold, Now is the
accepted time; behold, Now is the day of sal-

Ina village near Warsaw, there lived a pious
peasant, by name Dobry. Without any fault
of his own, he had fallen into arrears with his
rent, and the landlord determined to turn him
out. It was winter and evening, and the next
day he was to be turned out, with all his family.
As they sat in their sorrow, Dobry knelt down
in their midst, and they sang that sweet Lu-

at first that she fell from the bench on which
she had been sitting. A few moments after-
wards, however, she rose to her knees, and in
her own simple, childlike words, while the big
tears trembled in her eyes, she prayed that God
would pity them and help them; that he would
make the soldiers kind to her mother, and tell
them to go away to some other house where
they might get something to eat and drink,
and ending with these words, ‘‘For thou know-
est, Lord, that we are very poor.’’ One of the
soldiers patted the child’s head kindly and said,
«Who taught you to pray so nicely, little one?”
“Jesus and mother’, was her simple reply.
The soldier, a tall, strong, rough looking man,
turned aside his head, and brushed a tear from
his cheek, then putting a piece of money in her
lap, he kissed the little girl, and said to her
kindly, “There is something for your mother,
my child. Pray for us soldiers also sometimes,
like a good little girl, for we need prayer very
much.” :
——+ + oo

Tr is not darkness the Christian goes to at
death, for God is light. It is not lonelyness, for
Christ is with him. It is not an unknown
country, for Jesus is there; and there the vast.
company of the just made perfect, who shall be
one with Him in the fellowship and blessedness
of heaven forever.—Charless Kingsley.