The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1883, Page 11

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

11

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In Token.

[The following hymn isa perfect little gem. It was
found in an old Hymnal of England and sent to

the PronrER by Rev. F. Lochner, of Springfield,
Ill. It most beautifully interpretes the old Lu-

theran custom of making the sign of the cross

upon the forehead of the person that is baptized.]

In token that thou shalt not fear
Christ crucified to own,

We print the Cross upon thee here
And stamp thee His alone.

In token that thou shalt not blush
To glory in His Name,

We blazon here upon thy front
His glory and His shame.

In token that thou shalt not flinch
Christ’s quarrel to maintain,

But ’neath His banner manfully
Firm at thy post remain;

In token that thou too shalt tread
The path He travell’d by,

Endure the cross, despise the shame
And sit thee down on high;

Thus outwardly and visibly
We seal thee for His own:
And may the brow that wears His Cross
Hereafter share His Crown.

o<me-

Luther Enters the Cloister.

In our picture we see Luther entering
the cloister. He took this step with a
fearful heart, hoping to find peace for his
troubled soul by living the life of a monk.
The question, How can I be saved? had,
for some time, weighed heavily upon his
heart. The true Gospel-answer to this
question had not been given him in the
Romish church. He had been taught to
look upon Jesus as an angry Judge whose
wrath could be appeased only by good
works, and fasting, and prayers, and self-
torment. This way he resolved to go, when
by the sudden death of one of his friends and by
his own narrow escape from death during a ter-
rible ‘thunder storm he had been reminded of
his last hour and of the dark eternity beyond
the grave. In the evening of the 17th of July,
1505, he bade his friends farewell, and then
passed down the streets of Erfurt to the Augus-
tinian cloister where he was gladly admitted.
He soon found out that most of the monks
were leading godless lives, devoting their time
to drunkenness and all kinds of sin. But he
had entered the cloister with the firm purpose
of earning salvation. He devoted his time to
hard study, to prayers, and fasting, and self-
torture. Pale and haggard, bowed down by
the heavy bag, he was often seen passing slowly
through the streets of Erfurt, begging alms
for the cloister. And did he find peace in this
life of a monk? No! His poor soul was still
tossed about by fears and doubts, and cried out
for peace, for rest, for the assurance of God’s
favor. Once, indeed, an old monk pointed out
to him the doctrine of the forgiveness of sin.
This broke in upon his soul like a ray of light,

but the darkness soon came back. He’ was
still far from basking in the full sweet Gospel
light, when he was ordained priest in the year
1507. But God thus prepared His chosen in-
strument for the great work of the Reforma-
tion. Behind the walls of the cloister Luther
became acquainted with the corruption of the
pope’s church, and experienced in his own soul
how dreary and comfortless the Romish doc-
trines are to the poor anxious sinner.

———=—>- ene 0 +

“No Bads.”

Charlotte Elizabeth undertook to raise and
to teach a poor deaf and dumb boy, who was
called Jack. He was at first very ignorant;

‘| but, by the blessing of God, he became a bright

and happy Christian. He has told me, writes
Charlotte Elizaheth, that, when he had Jaina
good while in the grave, God would call aloud,
“‘Jack!’’ and he would start and say, ‘‘Yes,
me,—4Jack.’’ Then he would rise, and see mul-
titudes standing together, and God sitting on a
cloud, with a very large book in his hand, and
would beckon him to stand before Him, while
He opened the book, and looked at the top of
the pages, till He came to the name of John
B In that page, he told me, God had
written all his ‘‘ bads,’’—every sin he had ever
done; and the page was full. So God would
look, and strive to read it, and hold it to the
sun for light; but it was all ‘‘No, no, nothing,
none.”’ I asked him, in some alarm, if he had
done no bad. He said yes, much bads; but
Jesus Christ had taken the book out’of God’s
hand, found that page, and passed His bleed-
ing hand down the page, so that, as he beauti-
fully said, God would see none of Jack’s bads,
only Jesus Christ’s blood. Nothing being found
against him, God would shut the book, and
there he would remain standing before Him

till the Lord Jesus came, and, saying to God,
“My Jack,” would put His arm around hin,
draw him aside, and bid him stand with the
angels till the rest were judged.

The dear boy meant that, though he had no
righteousness of his own, the righteousness of
Christ would be reckoned as his, and God
would accept him because of what the Saviour

had done to meet and satisfy the claims of the
law.

Too Dear a Whistle.

Asa family composed of three persons, father,
mother and a little son—a bright little fellow—
were taking a trip on one of the railroads that
run through Williamsport, Pa., a little incident
occurred which is worth relating. The
day was a balmy one, and the window
was raised to admit the fresh air. Little
Fred, like all children, insisted on putting
his head out of the open window to see
what was going on outside’ of the train.
The father, somewhat alarmed at the con-
duct of his son, tried various plans, with-
out resorting to force, to keep him within
bounds, but without success, until a bright
idea came up in hismind. ‘Fred, Fred,’
said his father, “keep your head in, or the
wind will take your hat.’’ And in order
to frighten his hopeful he slyly slipped
the little one’s hat off his head and con-
cealed it. As soon as this had been done,
the child began crying and could not be
appeased. Finally the father told him to
look in an opposite direction and he would
whistle his hat back again, all of which
was very neatly done, and the happy par-
ents settled back in their seats and began
to converse very pleasantly, thinking that
they had cured little Freddie; but not so,
for in a very short time he seemed to
brighten up suddenly, and away he sent
his little hat through the car window, shouting
as it disappeared: ‘‘Papa, whistle again!’’
Moral, never deceive your children.

———.+ ~~ oe oe

Cheer your Minister.

At a fire in London, a little child was in
danger of being burned. All had been saved,
when it was found that the child was forgotten.
No one dared to go back, for the flames shot out
from every window. Buta noble fireman went
up the ladder: a sudden gust of hot wind made
him pause. They saw it from below. ‘‘Let
us give him a cheer,’’ said some one. A great
hurrah went up. The man heard, he rushed
into the burning house, and brought forth the
child in his arms, and delivered it to the
mother, who pressed it to her bosom. That
fireman would not have had the courage, doubt-
less, for so heroic and daring a deed, had he

‘not been cheered on by the crowd.

So, I say, give a cheer to your minister, give
a cheer to the missionary. —