The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1883, Page 15

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

“Victory! Victory!”

‘Dr. Jerome Weller, a dear friend of Luther,
had to suffer many trials of faith, so that his
soul was often cast down and cried for comfort.
With a sorrowful heart he once went to an old
Christian in Wittenberg in order to speak with
him about God’s Word and thus drive away all
sorrowful thoughts. Upon entering the room
of his Christian friend he saw a picture on the
wall representing the resurrection of Christ.
He suddenly cried out: ‘‘Victory! Victory!”
The old Christian, heing astonished at such
greetings, asked him what he meant. The
doctor told him that he had come to his house
with a heart cast down with heavy trials and
great sorrow, so that he could hardly breathe;
but when, on entering the room, he saw that
picture of his risen Saviour, when he saw how
sin and death and devil and hell were under
the feet of Jesus, the great Conqueror, then all
sorrowful thoughts were gone and his heart
was filled with comfort and joy.

May every Christian in his trials and sorrows
look up with the eye of faith to the risen Sav-
jour. The present year has been called the
“dark year.”? The few months that have
passed brought us the news of many sudden
deaths, of disasters by land and sea, of destruc-
tions by fire. Many a Christian home and
heart is passing through affliction and sorrow.
The faith of the believer looks away from the
darkness and finds comfort in the risen Saviour
who lives and reigns forever as the Conqueror
over all our enemies. He lives! He lives!
With these words Dr. Luther, in his sore trials,
often cheered himself. He would write them in
large letters with chalk upon his table; yea,
upon all the doors and sides of his room he
would write: He lives, He lives, He lives!
Upon being asked what he meant thereby, he
answered: ‘Jesus Lives! and if He did not
live, I would not wish to live a single hour.
But because He lives, we also shall live through
Him, as He Himself says: ‘I live, and ye shall
live also!’’’ ‘The living Saviour was also the
comfort of Job in his many trials. When
friends, and property, and health were all gone
he found consolation in those words: ‘‘I know
that my Redeemer liveth.”

Thus the Easter tidings of a risen Saviour
shed a bright light of comfort into the darkness
of this world, for Easter brings to all sorrowing
hearts the glad news: Vicrory! Vicrory!

—_—s +o o> oe

“Baby, Come Forth.”

A little child was taken once to a funeral of
one of his young companions. He had never seen
a dead body before. He looked long and earn-
estly on the beautiful form of his little friend,
as it lay, like a piece of waxwork or of pol-
ished marble, in the dark coffin, with flowers
all over it. He did not go to the graveyard.
His mother took him home, and let him stand
at the window where he could see the funeral

servers,
of the wi
as she cou

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procession of his playmate go by. He looked
at it with fixed attention for a while; then he
turned to his mother, and his face all bright-
ened up with gladness, as he said:

“Oh, mamma! how beautiful it will be when
Jesus says— Baby, come forth.’”’

The little fellow was thinking, no doubt, of
what he had heard about Jesus standing by the
grave of His friend in Bethany, when He said,
“Lazarus, come forth!’’ That dear child was
making the right use of what the Bible teaches
us about Jesus and the resurrection. In the
morning of the resurrection Jesus will call all
the dead from their graves. The miracle of
His own resurrection is the earnest and fore-
runner of that grand miracle, when His shout
shall ring through the silence of the tomb,
and the dead shall rise in immortal bodies.
And to all His people who died believing in
Him it will, indeed, ‘‘be beautiful when they

came forth’ and in glorious bodies meet their
‘*So shall we ever
Wherefore comfort one an-
other with these words.’”’ If it please Him to
tarry yet longer, the believer will enter the
grave, as a quiet resting place from the strife

Saviour with all the saints.
be with the Lord.

did, placing her hands firmly on his shoulders
and resting there until her strength becoming
exhausted, she said: ‘‘I can hold on no
longer!’’ ‘‘Try a little longer,” was the re-
sponse of the weary and agonized husband,
‘let us sing ‘Rock of Ages.’’’ And as those
sweet strains floated over those troubled waters,
reaching the ears of the sinking and dying,
little did they know, those sweet singers, whom
they comforted.

But lo! as they sang, one after another of
those exhausted ones were seen raising. their
heads above the overwhelming waves, joining
with a last effort in this sweet, dying pleading
prayer:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in thee.
With the song seemed to come strength; an-
other and yet another was encouraged to re-
newed effort. Soon in the distance a boat was
seen approaching! Singing still, they tried,
and with superhuman strength laid hold of the
life boat, upon which they were borne in safety
to land. ‘This is no fiction; it was related by
the singer himself, who said, he “ believed Top-
lady’s sweet ‘Rock of Ages’ saved many an-

and toil of earth; but his Christian friends can other besides himself and wife.”’— Western.

gather around it to lift the Hymn of Praise,
«Thou hast been here, Lord Jesus!
But Thou art here no more;
The terror and the darkness,
The night of death, are o’er.
Great Captain of salvation!
Thy triumphs now we sing;
O Grave, where is thy victory?
O Death, where is thy sting?”

The Dying Sinner’s Comfort.

When the Archbishop Ernestus, of Magde-
burg, was approaching death, the monks, who
stood by his bed, tried to comfort him by say-
ing, ‘‘Do not fear death or hell; for we shall
give you all the holiness and all the good works
of our holy order with which you may appear
before the judgment seat of God.’’ Upon this
the dying bishop replied, ‘‘No, my dear sirs,
Ido not want your holiness and good works,
for they cannot do me any good. I trust only
in the dear merits of my Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, in the full assurance that I am
thereby saved.” In this faith he fell asleep on
the third of August, 1513, casting away the
miserable, comfortless doctrines of the pope’s
church and finding comfort in the Gospel
which Dr. Luther, soon after proclaimed

throughout all Germany. :

———_ oo ae

A True Incident.

On board the ill-fated steamer Seawanhaka
was one of the Fisk University singers. Be-
fore leaving the burning steamer and commit-
ting himself to the merciless waves, he care-
fully fastened upon himself, and wife life-pre-
Some one cruelly dragged away that
fe, leaving her without hope except
Id cling to her husband. This she| the world dreams of.

———s +o or oe -

God’s Eye.

Doth not He see my ways, and
count all my steps ?—Job 31, 4.

A man used to steal his neighbor's corn.
One day he took his little son with him. Ar-
rived at the field, he told the lad to hold the
bag. After looking about and peeping through
the fence to see if any persons were near, he
began to fill the sack. ‘‘ Father, you forgot to
look somewhere else,’’ said the lad. He dropped.
his hold in fright. ‘“Which way, child? where?”
“You forgot to look up to see if God sees you.””
It was a reproof keen enough for him. He left
the corn and his thievish ways. His child had
taught him the great truth that God’s eye
never sleeps and is always looking upon us.—

Selected.

_— oo ae

The Straight Path.

“The Bible is so strict and old fashioned,”
said a young man to a gray-haired friend, who
was advising him ‘to study God’s Word if he
would Jearn how to live. ‘There are plenty
of books written nowadays that are moral
enough in their teaching, and do not bind one
down as the Bible does.”’

The old merchant turned to his desk and
took out two rulers, one of which was slightly
bent. With each of these he ruled a line, and
silently handed the ruled paper to his com-
panion.

‘Well,”’ said the lad, ‘“‘what do you mean?”?

“One line is not straight and true, is it?
When you mark out your path in life, do not
take a crooked ruler!’”

—2> eae om

More THINGS are wrought by prayer than