The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1883, Page 33

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

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A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.
PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LutHeRAN SyNnopicAL CoNnFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.
Entered at the Post Oftice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.
Vol. Y. St. Louis, Mo., September, 1883. No. 9.

The Reason Why.

The reason why some men hate the Bible is
because that Book shows them their sinfulness.
They do not like to be humbled, and they hate
the Book which tells them that they are vile sin-
ners, rotten to the core, and that there is nothing
good whatever in them. Let me tell you astory.

A London Bible Society, in order to gain
agecess for a missionary to the tribes in South
Africa, sent down some trinkets to trade with
the natives, and amongst them there was a
package of these little hand-glasses, such as
the ladies use. They had never seen their own
faces before, except in the waters of some lake
or stream, and the news of this wonderful little
instrument, by which people could see their
own features, was spread abroad until the
missionary was invited by tribe after tribe to
visit them with his hand-glass. It happened
that away in the interior there was a princess
in one of the tribes who had been told that she
was the most beautiful woman in the tribe, and
that her face was the most beautiful on earth.
Now, when she heard of this instrument, in
which she might see what a beautiful creature
she was, she ‘sent for the missionary and bade
him bring one of these looking-glasses. But
the truth was that the princess was the home-
liest woman in the whole tribe, but could not
find it out. So she got the looking-glass and
went into her hut to take one good, long, deli-
cious look at her beauty; and when she held
up the glass and saw what a hideous creature
she was, how homely in every feature, she
lifted her royal fist and dashed the glass to
pieces, banished the missionary, and made a
law that no looking-glass should ever be
brought into the tribe.

Why did the princess hate the glass? She
hated it because it told the truth about herself.
The truth was not a very pleasant one, she
found that she was an ugly woman, and she
did not like it.

And why do men ete the Bible? Because
it tells them that the best righteousness of man
is but filthiness in God’s sight; that out of the
heart come murders, lyings, false witnesses,
adulteries, and such things. And when the
Bible, like a looking-glass, shows man to him-

self in all his sinfulness, then his hatred is
aroused and the Bible is smitten, as the heathen
princess destroyed the looking-glass because it
told the truth. But she was just as ugly after
she had destroyed the looking-glass as she was
before. And though man reject the Bible and
trample it under foot, he is exactly the same
sinner that he was before; and he is moving
on just as.steadily toward eternity as he was
before he rejected the Bible. Woe unto him
if he dies in his hatred of that Book of God;
for Christ says, ‘The word that I have spoken,
the same shall judge him in the last day’’,
John 12, 48.

——— —- ae

Comfort in Sickness and Death.

Doctor Pommer related.at Wittenberg an in-
cident which happened shortly before the times
of Dr. Martin Luther. There was a noble
matron who showed many favors to the poor,
and ‘hence was held in high repute by every-
body. When she was about to die 2 monk
visited her and said: ‘Good woman, you have
led a holy life; take comfort in this for your
salvation.’’? Then answered the brave heroine:
“OQ, Sir, do not speak to me of this—it is al-
together too little; where you direct me, there
I have been a long while; I have considered
again and again, how I might obtain the assur-
ance of everlasting life; I have thought of all
my good works, but I cannot trust in them —
that is all in vain—I have set my heart upon
something else. Amidst my doubtings there
finally occurred to me what I heard in the
passion season concerning Peter; do not try to
tench me anything else, I will not obey you.
Like Peter I confess my sins and must weep
bitterly. But I will pray the Lord Jesus in
my last hour, that He may look upon me with
the same eyes with which He looked upon
Peter, and that He may have mercy upon me
as He had upon beloved Peter. With this
comfort I will go out of the world, as St. Peter
went out of the palace of the high priest. ””

Such comfort is in accordance with Christ's
direction: ‘‘ Repent and believe the Gospel.”

—s-eaPo o

Tne growth of every seed is a work of cre-

ation.— Luther.

A Knock-Down Argument.

There is much infidelity of a kind which ean-
not easily be argued out of men’s minds. It
has its seat in the heart; and nothing in the
shape of argument can affect it, so Jong as the
skeptic remains in health, and strength, and
courage. But times of storm or danger will
come when all this bravery and courage fails,
and then this infidelity flies like a dream.

A noted infidel having concluded a lecture in

} a town in Yorkshire, representing his doctrines

to the people, called upon any person present
to reply to his argument, if they could. A
collier arose in the assembly, and spoke some-
what as follows:

“‘Master, me and my mate Jem were both:
Christian folk till one of these infidel chaps
came this way. Jem turned infidel, and used
to badger me ’bout attending prayer-meetings;
but one day, in the pit, a large cob of coal
came down upon Jem’s head. Jem thought he
was killed; and, ah! mon! but he did holler
and cry toGod!’’ Then turning to the lecturer,
with a knowing look, he said:

“Young man, there is now’t like cobs of coal
for knocking infidelity out of a man.”

The collier carried the audience with him,
for they well knew that a knock on the head
by a big chunk of coal would upset the courage
and with it the skepticism of stronger infidels
than ‘‘my mate Jem.”

> 0am ¢ ~ <@——_—

On the Rock.

“‘T recollect”’, says a pastor, ‘‘an anecdote
of James Smith. He visited one of his mem-
bers who was dying. He said to her, ‘ You are
ailing’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you feel sinking?” She
replied, ‘What did you say, Mr. Smith?” He
asked her whether she was sinking. She said,
‘No! my dear minister! never ask such a
question of a child of God. Did you ever know
a sinner to sink through a rock? If I was
standing on sand I might sink, but I am on the
rock of ages!*”’

So

NEVER excuse 2 wrong action by saying § some
one else does the same thing.