The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1881, Page 11

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

11

LL ——_—L—————

“Thine, Jesus, Thine.”

“Tam Thine.’?—Psalm 119, 91.

For Conrmmation Day.

Thine, Jesus, Thine,

No more this heart of mine
Shall seek its joy apart from Thee;
The world is crucified to me,

And I am Thine.

Thine, Thine alone,
My joy, my hope, my crown;
Now earthly things may fade and die,
They charm my soul no more, for I
Am Thine alone.

Thine, ever Thine,
For ever to recline
On love cternal, fixed, and sure,—
Yes, I am Thine for evermore,
Lord Jesus, Thine.

Then let me live,
Continual praise to give
To.Thy dear name, my precious Lord,
~ Henceforth alone, beloved, adored,
So let me live—

Till Thou shalt come,

And bear me to Thy home,
For ever freed from earthly care,
Eternally Thy love to share,—

Lord Jesus, come.
(Selected.)
+70 oe oe

Old Aunt Judy.

That was her name,
the folks never heard it.
“Aunt Judy.”
woman.

put together. Old Aunt Judy was poor, yes,

she was very poor in this world’s goods. But
As a poor lost and con-
demned sinner she clung firmly to the Gospel
of Jesus which at all times filled her heart with
joy and happiness. In that Gospel she found
all her riches, and never wished to be anything
else but ‘‘a poor sinner saved by grace.’’ Her
strong faith and unclouded joy reminded one of

she was rich in faith.

that verse in the Bible which says, “Hath not
God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith,
and heirs of the kingdom which he had promised
to them that love him?”’ (James 2, 5.)

Aunt Judy was taken sick—very sick. There
was no hope of her getting well again. A young
student of theology, who often visited the
colored folks in their cabins, came to see her
on her dying-bed. He found her quite happy
at the thought that she would soon be with her
“bressed Lord,’ and bright “in full assurance
of faith.” So he thought he would try her
thoroughly, and said to her, ‘‘Aunt Judy, you
will not think it unkind in me.to say that you
are a poor, ignorant, old creature, and nobody

If she had any other,

They all called her
She was a poor old colored
She lived in a small and low cabin
of rough boards, scarcely high enough for a tall
man to stand in it erect, and the only floor was
the ground, worn bare and smooth. And there
was some furniture in the cabin, yes. There was
a box, a cheap pine table, two or three broken
chairs, a cooking stove, and a rude bed. That
was'the furniture, worth less than five dollars

body in an unpainted coffin, and bury it in the
pauper’s corner of the grave yard, and there
will not be even a plank to mark were you lie.
But God isa very great God: He made the
world, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars,
and all that is in the world; and He has mil-
lions of people to look after; some of them rich
and mighty. You tell me you are sure He
has saved your soul; but what good could it do
this great God to save a worthless old sinner
like you?’’

Aunt Judy understood the meaning of the
question in a moment, and looking up with a
smile that made her black and wrinkled features
almost beautiful, she raised her hand, and
answered eagerly, “‘Ah, my boy, God is goin’
to pint de angels to me, and tell ’em to see
what His grace can do.’ The student learned a
good deal of theology that day, and sat with
bowed head beside the dear old saint, as her
soul passed away to her heavenly home to bask
forever in the smiles of her dear Saviour. How
well she had learned the purpose of God in our
salvation as given by the apostle Paul: “that
in the ages to come he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us
through Christ Jesus.’’ (Eph. 2, 7.)

May all Christians look away from their own
miserable, doubting self, and rejoice in remem-
bering that ‘‘God is going to point the angels
to them, and tell them to see what His grace
can do.’’ For the end of our salvation is God’s
glory. It is not that man may be exalted, but
that in the ages to come God may show the
exceeding riches of His grace. He who is the
whole way, the whole truth, and the whole
life, has said, ‘Except ye be converted, and
become as little children, ye shall not enter into
the kingdom of heaven.”’ (Matth. 18, 3.) Many
a great and learned man who has failed to learn
the lesson of becoming a little child, the lesson
of simply trusting in the exceeding riches of
God's grace in Jesus, will not be such an object
of delight to the angels as dear old Aunt Judy.
+ go

Luther’s Snow Song.

On a cold dark night, when the wind was
blowing hard and the snow was falling fast,
Conrad, a worthy citizen of a little town in Ger-
many, sat playing his flute, while Ursula, his
wife, was preparing supper. They heard a sweet
voice singing outside—

“Foxes to their holes have gone,
Every bird into its nest;

But I wander here alone,
And for me there is no rest.”

Tears filled the good man’s eyes, as he said,
“What a fine, sweet voice! What a pity it

should be spoiled by being tried in such
weather!’

“T think it is the voice ofa child. Let us

open the door and see,” said his wife, who had
lost a little boy not long before, and whose heart :
was opened to take pity on the little wanderer. | shall come to the bottom of your poisoned bowl.

cares whether you live or die. When you are| Conrad opened the door, and saw a ragged
gone, the overseer of the poor will place your| child, who said:

“Charity, good sir, for Christ’s sake!’?

“Come in, my little one.’’ said he.
shall rest with me for the night.’’

The boy said ‘‘Thank God” and entered.

The heat of the room made him faint, but
Ursula’s kind care soon revived him. They
gave him some supper, and then he told them
that he was the son of 'a poor miner, and wanted
to be a priest. He wandered about and sang
and lived on the money people gave him. His
kind friends would not let him talk much, but
sent him to bed. When he was asleep, they
looked in upon him, and were so well pleased
with his pleasant countenance that they deter-
mined to keep him, if he was willing. In the
morning they found that he was only too glad to
remain with them.

They sent him to school, and afterward he
entered the University. There he found a
Bible, which he read, and from which he learned
the way of life. The sweet voice of the little
singer became the strong echo of the good news
—‘‘Justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ.’’ Conrad and
Ursula, when they took that little street-singer
into their house, little thought that they were
nourishing the great champion of the Reforma-
tion. The poor child was Martin Luther! Be
not forgetful to entertain strangers.

The following is said to be the song which
Luther sang on that memorable night:

“You

Lord of heaven! lone and sad,
I would lift my heart to Thee;
Pilgrim in a foreign land,
Gracious Father, look on me.
I shall neither faint nor die,
While I walk beneath Thine eye.

I will stay my faith on Thee,
And will never fear to tread
Where the Saviour-Master leads;
He will give me daily bread.
Christ was hungry, Christ was poor—
He will feed me from his store.
Foxes to their holes have gone,
-Every bird unto its nest;
But I wander here alone,
And for me there is no rest.
Yet I neither faint nor fear,
For the Saviour Christ is here.
If I live, He'll be with me;
If I die, to Him I go.
He'll not leave me, I will trust Him,
And my heart no fear shall know.
Sin and sorrow I defy,
For on Jesus I rely.

——s oa oo

You may think to live very well without
Christ, but you cannot afford to die without
Him. You can stand very securely at present,
but death will shake your confidence. Your
tree may be fair now, but when the wind comes,
if it has not its roots in the Rock of Ages, down
it must come. You may think your worldly
pleasures good, but they will then turn bitter
as worm wood in your taste: worse than gall
shall be the daintiest of your drinks, when you