The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1881, Page 23

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

The Lutheran Pioneer.

Beautiful Saviour.

“Schanster Herr Jesu.”

Beautiful Saviour! King of creation!
Son of God and Son of man!

Truly ’d love Thee, truly I’d serve Thee,
Light of my soul, my Joy, my Crown.

Fair are the meadows, fairer the woodlands,
Robed in flowers of blooming Spring:
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer;
He makes the sorrowing spirit sing.

Fair is the sunshine, fairer the moonlight,
With the sparkling stars on high:

Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer,
Than all the angels of the sky.

Beautiful Saviour! Lord of the nations!
Son of God and son of man!

Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and for evermore be Thine.

———+ + oo >

A Youthful Martyr.

In the first ages of the Church of Christ, in
the city of Antioch, a believer was carried
forth to die as a martyr. ‘‘Ask any little
child,’”’ said he, ‘‘ whether it were better to wor-
ship one God, the maker of heaven and earth,
and one Saviour, who is able to save us, or to
worship the many false gods whom the heathen
serve?’’

Now, it was so that a Christian mother had
come to the spot, holding in her hand a little
son, of about nine or ten years old, named
Cyril. The heathen judge no sooner heard the
martyr’s words than his eyes rested on the
child, and he desired the question to be put to
him.

The question was asked: and, to the surprise
of those who heard it, the boy replied, ‘‘God
is one, and Jesus Christ is one with the Father.’’

The judge was filled with rage. ‘‘Oh, base
Christian!’’ he cried, ‘‘thou hast taught that
child to answer thus.’’ Then turning to the
boy, he said more mildly, ‘‘Tell me, child, how
did you learn this faith?”’ :

The boy looked lovingly in his mother’s face,
and replied, ‘‘It was God’s grace that taught
it to my dear mother, and she taught it to me.’’

‘Let us now see what the love of Christ
can do for you,’’ cried the cruel judge; and at
a sign from him, the officers who stood ready
with their wooden rods, of the fashion of the
Romans, instantly seized the boy. Gladly
would the mother have saved her timid dove,

even at the cost of her own life, but she could
not do so; yet she did whisper to him to trust
in the love of Christ, and to speak the truth.

“What can the love of Christ do for him
now?” asked the judge.

“It enables him to endure what his Master
endured for him and for us all,’ was the reply.

hd again they smote the child.

“What can the love of Christ do for him?”
nay tears fell even from the eyes of the

me ©n, as that mother, as much tortured as
~ 500, answered, ‘It teaches him to forgive
8 Persecutors,””

The boy watched his mother’s eyes as they
rose up to heaven for him; and when his tor-
mentors asked whether he would not now ac-
knowledge the gods they served, and deny
Christ, he still said, ‘‘No; there is no other
God but one; and Jesus Christ is the Redeemer
of the world. He loved me, and I love Him
for His love.”

The poor boy now fainted beneath the re-
peated strokes, and they cast the bruised body
into the mother’s arms, crying, ‘See what the
love of your Christ can do for him now!’’

As the mother pressed her child gently to her
own crushed heart, she answered, ‘‘That love
will take him from the wrath of man to the
rest of heaven.”

“‘Mother,” cried the dying boy, ‘‘give me
a drop of water from our cool well upon my
tongue.”’

The mother said, ‘Already, dearest, thou
hast tasted of the well that springeth up to
everlasting life—the grace which Christ gives
to his little ones. Thou hast spoken the truth
in love; arise now, for thy Saviour calleth for
thee. May he grant thy poor mother grace to
follow in the bright path!’’

The little martyr faintly raised his eyes, and
said again, “There is but one God, and Jesus
Christ whom He has sent;’’ and so saying he
gave up his life.—Golden Sayings.

<>? <> —__

God’s Hiding Place.

In the days of the Reformation there lived
a learned divine in Germany named Brentius,
of Wurtemberg. His godly zeal had at last
aroused his enemies, who one day sent a band
of soldiers to seize him when they thought he
would be off his guard. The soldiers entered
the town, but Brentius had time to flee; not,
however, without their perceiving him, and
they chased him through several streets. He
was enabled to outstrip them a little; and then
turning quickly into a lane, he found his way
up a flight of stairs, at the top of which was a
rickety ladder leading up to a hay-loft. He
was soon among the hay, concealed and still.
The soldiers ran hither and thither, and on
coming to the stairs, sought for him, even pok-
ing up the points of their bayonets through the
boards of the hay-loft, to see if any one moved.
Brentius kept still, only shrinking back to es-
cape the touch of the bayonets, till the soldiers
turned away, concluding that no one was there.

So far, this was a good hiding-place; but
how was he to live if he continued here? The
same Lord who had guided his servant to this
retreat, sent him food; for every morning, dur-
ing fourteen days, a hen came to the hay-loft
and laid an egg in the hay, which furnished
Brentius with sustenance sufficient to keep him
alive.

After the fourteenth day the supply failed,
and he was compelled to leave this shelter, and
accordingly he cautiously descended into the
street. He found that the soldiers had just

left the town; so that his friends had now full

time and opportunity to get him conveyed
away safely to another place.

How many ways has God of protecting His
own people who trust in Him!

——s-—~+o-<4a-o
Cast a Line for Yourself.

A young man stood watching some anglers
on a bridge. He was poor and dejected. At
last, going up to a basket filled with fish, he
sighed:

“Tf now I had these I would be happy. I
could sell them at a fair price and buy me food
and lodging.’

“Twill give you just as many and just as
good fish,’’ said the owner, who had chanced
to overhear his words, ‘‘if you will do me a
trifling fayor.’’

“What is it?’’ asked the other.

‘*Only to tend this line till I come back; I
wish to go on a short errand.’’

The proposal was gladly accepted. The old
man was gone so long that the young man began
to get impatient. Meanwhile the hungry fish
snapped greedily at the baited hook, and the
young man lost all his depression in the excite-
ment of pulling them in; and when the owner
of the line came back he had caught a large
number. Counting out from them as many as
were in the basket, and giving them to the
young man, the old fisherman said: ‘‘I fulfill
my promise from the fish you have caught to
teach you whenever you see others earning
what you need, to waste no time in fruitless
wishing, but cast a line for yourself.’’

———> ~<a ee

A Horse Accustomed to Giving.

A rich man in Poland desired to send several
bottles of good wine to a minister whom he held
in high esteem. But as he was unwilling to
entrust them to any one of his servants, from
fear that a part of-his gift might disappear on
the way, he requested a young man to take the
horse which he himself was accustomed to ride,
and bear the wine to the parson. When the
young man returned, he said, “I shall not again
ride your horse, unless you give me your purse
along.” ‘Why so,”’ inquired the wealthy Pole.
“Because,” said the young man, ‘‘whenever I
met a poor man on the road the horse would
immediately stop, when he saw him taking off
his hat to ask alms, and would not move from
the spot until I gave the beggar something;
and after I had no more money, I could only
help myself by stretching out my hand into the
beggar’s hat as if I was giving; otherwise I
could not get the horse to move on.’’

If only all the rich, who will not be moved
to charity either by the Word of God or the
poverty surrounding them, could be made to
ride quite often on this horse, so as to come to
reason through the irrational animal.

2 42a
‘“‘WARTHLY riches are full of poverty.’’—
Augustine. .