The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1884, Page 2

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Day by Day. ‘The Sunday Stone.

In one of the English coal mines there is a
constant formation of lime-stone, caused by the |,
trickling of water through the rocks. ~ This
water contains a great many particles of lime,
which are deposited in the mine, and as the
water passes off these become hard and form
the lime-stone. This stone would always be
white, like marble, were it not that men are
working in the mine, and as the black dust
rises from the coal, it mixes with the soft lime,
and in that way a black stone is formed.

Now, in the night, when there is no coal-
dust rising, the stone is white; then again, the
next day, when the miners are at work, another
black layer is formed, and so on alternately,
black and white, through the week, until Sun-
day comes. Then, if the miners do not work
on Sunday, a much larger layer of white stone
will be formed than before. There will be the
white stone of Saturday night, and the whole
of Sunday, so that every seventh day the white
layer will be about three times as thick as any
of the others. But if they work on Sunday,
they see it marked against them in the stone.
Hence the miners call it ‘The Sunday-Stone.”’

Perhaps many who now do not keep the
holiday holy, would try and spend it better if
there were a “Sunday-stone,” where they could
see their unkept Sundays with their black
marks.

But God needs no such record on earth’ to
know how all our Sundays are kept. His re-
cord is kept above. All our Sunday deeds are
written there, and we shall see them at the last.

“(Day by day the manna fell;
‘Oh, to learn this lesson well!
Still by constant mercy fed,
Give us, Lord, our daily bread.

+¢*Day by day’, the promise reads,
Daily strength for daily needs;
Cast foreboding fears away,

Take the manna of to-day.”

qs - oa oe

A Dark Year.

The year 1883 has been called a ‘‘dark year,”
it being memorable for its many disasters by
fire and flood; by earthquake and storm. The
newspapers have again and again called atten-
tion to the great loss of life during the twelve
months now past. On the first of July the
New York Herald published a list, from its
own columns, of the losses brought on by storm
and fire, as reported to that paper alone. More
than 180 of such disasters had occurred during
the first six months of the year, and more than
3000 persons had been killed. Since that time
still greater disasters have occurred. The
cyclone at Rochester, Minnesota, and tornadoes
at many other places, the earthquakes at Ischia,
in Jaya, and Smyrna, the railroad disasters in
the latter part of December have increased the
number of sudden and horrible deaths to far
more than 100,000. It may well be said that
each day of the 365, now numbered with the
past, is a new witness to the fact that ‘‘God’s
* judgments are on the earth.” And these are
but heralds of the great Judgment Day which
every setting sun brings nearer. But amid the
evil and uproar Christians may lift up their
heads and rejoice. There was a Zoar for Lot
when Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown.
There was a Pella for the Christians in Jerusa-
Jem when that city was destroyed. And there
shall be royal mansions in our Father’s home
above for the waiting and watching saints when
that last Day of Judgment comes.

——__~~< o<um o>
New Year’s Day.

—>—- oe =

Nearer Heaven.

The weary laborer, counting the hours until
the sun goes down, rejoices at each sound of
the bell that warns him that he can soon return
to his room. The little child, hurrying from
play or from school to the kindly welcome of a
mother’s arms, is glad when the well known
roofis in sight, and he almost there. The home-
sick stranger enters joyfully the vessel whose
swift wing shall waft him over the waters to
the land he loves. ven so the Christian pil-
grim gazes through the mists that enshroud his
pathway for the first glimpse of the everlasting
hills which are crowned with the city of his
God. MHeartsick, fainting, and weak, there is
no surer word of-hope that can cheer his faith
and arouse his zeal than the melody of ‘nearer
heayen.”” 4

Tf we are toilers in the vineyard at all, every
glowing sunset is the token that one day less is
left to journey over. Every new morning is
another mile-stone, silently telling us that we
are approaching the end of the road. TEvery
hour of labor is an earnest of never-ending rest.
The path we travel may be tangled and wild;
it may lead up rough and rugged mountain
sides, and into dangerous ravines; storms may
break over our heads, and the blinding hail

Ought not daily mercies to be acknowledged,
and God’s favor and protection asked for every
new day? And are we not as ignorant of what
a new day as of what a new year may bring
forth? There is nothing in nature to make
this day in itself more worthy of attention than
any other. The sun rises and sets on it as on
other days, and the sea ebbs and flows. Some
come to the world and some leave it, as they
did yesterday, and will do to-morrow. On
what day may not one say, I am a year older
_ than I was this day last year? Still I must

own that the first of the year speaks to me in
"4 more commanding and serious language than
any other common day.—Norman McLeod.

Ir tribulation takes all away from us, it still

vi od; for if can never take away.
‘ay, indeed, it brings God to us.—Luither.
oy ar ae ne

‘The Lutheran Pioneer.

and dripping rain render it almost hopeless;
yet in sunshine and in gloom we are ever going
onward. At the end of the way is the ‘‘house
beautiful,’’ where the Master has gone to pre-
pare a place for us.

We know not what lies before us ere we
reach our home. Joys may be lying in the
way, waiting to clasp us in their fragrant arms.
Fairer hopes may spring up like flowers where
we tread. Or darkness may be on the wing,
and the creeping shadows already looking over
the shoulder of the sunshine, yet in thé same
sweet spirit of submission and gratitude let us
take whatever our Father sends.

|

“Tf grief await, O! let me murmur not,

He passed through furnace-fires tenfold as hot,

And shall the servant scorn the Master's lot?”

One moment in glory will more than recom-
pense for all the toils and griefs of the way
thither. Let us cheer each other by the way
with the songs of Zion, and whisper in the ear
of every singing one, ‘tNearer heaven.’’

mcrae RT RRANS Pere: te

»»My days are gliding swiftly by,
And La pilgrim stranger,

Would not detain them as they fly,
Those hours of care and danger.
For O! we stand on Jordan’s strand,
Our friends are passing over,
And just before the shining shore ‘

We may almost discover.”’ —T. F.C.

—> - o<a>-e -

Rome and the Bible.

In Bologne, October 22., 1553, the bishops,
in response to the questions of Pope Julius III.,
as to the best means for strengthening the
Church, gave the following answer: ‘Of all
the counsels we have presented to your Holi-
ness we have reserved the most important for
the last, and it is that in all the denominations,
of Rome the Gospel be read as little as possible,
especially in the language of the people. The
few texts repeated in the mass is sufficient,
and no more should be allowed to be read.
Whilst the people were content with this small
portion your interests prospered, but as the
reading of the Gospels has increased your in-
terests have decreased. We repeat, that this
book, the Bible, is that which more than any }
other has 1aised against us whirlwinds and
tempests. It is, therefore, important to limit
and impede its circulation, and truly, if we
examine it diligently and compare it with the
practices of our Church, we shall see a great
discordance, and that our doctrine is distinct
from and often contrary to the book. What
if the people should so understand it? They
would not cease to clamor against us, the whole
would be divulged, and we should become ob-
jects of universal reproach and hatred. For
this reason the few pages in the missal must be
suppressed with care and caution if we would
avoid mobs and tumults.’”

——s +o o>

Some people are dissatisfied because thorns
fre put on roses, they ought to be glad that
roses are put on thorns.

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