The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1884, Page 7

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

Young Atheists.

A suggestive scene took place lately
in a railway car that was crossing the
Rocky Mountains. A quiet business
man, who with the other passengers had
been silently watching the vast range
of snow-clad peaks by him seen for the
first time, said to his companion,—

‘‘No man, it seems to me, could look

brought nearer to his Creator.’’

A dapper lad of eighteen, who had
been chiefly occupied in caressing his
mustache, partly interrupted, “If you
are sure there is a Creator.”

ger, turning to the lad.

“Tam an agnostic,’’ raising his voice.
“T am investigating the subject. I take
nothing for granted.
be convinced.

O, little child! lie still and sleep;
Jesus is near,
Thou needst not fear;

No one need fear whom God doth keep
By day or night;

Then lay thee down in slumber deep
Till morning light.

ping exist.
God.

Therefore’”’—

try to smell with your eyes?”’ he said, quietly.
“No.”

O, little child! thou needst not wake,
Though bears should prowl,
The woltish howl

And watch-dogs’ bark the silence break;
Jesus is strong:

The angels watch thee for His sake,
The whole night long.

with your ears?”
“Certainly not.”
|

things?”’

0, little child! be still and rest, the youth with a conceited giggle.
He sweetly sleeps
Whom Jesus keeps,

And in the morning wakes so blest,
His child to be;

Love every one, but love Him best,

* ”
He first loved thee. that you are an agnostic.

The laugh in the car effectually stopped the

O, little child, when thou must die,
Fear nothing then,
But say ‘Amen’?

To God’s command, and quiet lie
In His kind hand

Till He shall say, ‘‘Dear child, come, fly
To Heaven's bright land.’’

display of any more atheism that day.

or joked away.

challenge the Creator of the universe to stand

Then, with thine angel wings quic! grown, pera ieaettheinerdices

Thou shalt ascend
To meet thy Friend;
Jesus the little child will own,
Safe at His side;
And thou shalt live before the throne
Because He died.
* —Norwegian Hymn.

_—_— ~- Po ee

Johnny’s Question.

house of a farmer. They were kind people at
the farm-house, and the soldier had good reason

A Propte that gives up God is like a people} for remembering his visit. I will tell you why.
that gives up a territory: it is a lost people. | Before sitting down to dinner, father, mother,

th eS

There is only one greater folly than that of the| children, and the servants, stood behind their

fool who says in his heart, «There is no God,’’| chairs with their heads bowed, while the farmer
and that is the folly of a people that says in its) asked God’s blessing on the food. After they
heart that it does not know whether there is a| had eaten, the farmer gave thanks to God in
God or not.—Bismarek. the same way. Every one then went to work,

at that scene without feeling himself

“You are an atheist,’ said the stran-|

I am waiting to
I see the mountains, I
smell the rose, I hear the wind: there-
fore, I believe that mountains, rose and
But I cannot see, smell, or hear

A grizzled old cattle raiser opposite glanced
over his spectacles at the boy. ‘‘Did you ever

“Or to hear with your tongue, or to taste

“Then why do you try to apprehend God
| with faculties which are only meant for material

“With what should I apprehend him?”’ said

“With your intel’ect and soul!—but I beg
your pardon;’’ here he paused; ‘‘some men
+ haven’t breadth and depth enough of intellect
and soul to do this. This is probably the reason

But this is a question that cannot be laughed
There are such immature lads
Jin colleges who find a Greek grammar too much
for their brains to master, yet who loudly pro-
claim themselves agnostics or materialists, and

A young soldier stopped one day at the

and the children to school, all except Johnny,
| the youngest. The soldier sat down at the
| window, and as he looked out, kept thinking,
| “These people love God.”’

| Pretty soon Johnny came up to him, and
| putting his little fat hand on the soldier's knee,
said, ‘Please tell me something about Jesus.’’
|; But the soldier began to talk about dogs,
| horses and cows, anything but Jesus. When he
| stopped, the little boy looked into his face again,
|and said, ‘Do tell me something about Jesus.’’
| “Ido not know anything about Him,’’ said
| the soldier, feeling a little ashamed of his ig-
| norance.

“You so big, and not know anything about
Jesus!’’ said Johnny, with a look of great sur-
prise. ‘If you don’t put your trust in Him,
when you die you won't go to heaven.”

The young man went out and did not get
back till after supper. The farmer's wife had
|something already on the table when he did
come, which he was about to eat, when Johnny,
still keeping near the stranger, said, ‘ Pray
first, then eat.’’ The soldier laid down his
knife and fork, and hardly knew what to do.
The little fellow, seeing him puzzled, folded his
own hands, and asked God’s blessing on the
soldier's supper. After that, came family
prayers. A Bible was put into the stranger’s
hands, and he read with the rest, and sang
with them, and heard the farmer pray for him,
who never prayed for himself.

He was deeply impressed. God’s Word,
which he had read that evening in the Bible,
worked at his heart. When he got into his
own chamber, he kneeled down by his bed, and
prayed: ‘‘O God of this house, be my God!”’
It was the first prayer he had offered in many,
many years; but you may be sure it was not
the last. And it was not a long time before
he could tell little Johnny something about the
dear Jesus he loved so well. L. C. P.

“Then | have Got it.’’

Some years ago, says a missionary, I was
leaving a hall in Glasgow, in which I had been
preaching the gospel, when a respectable man,
with a very eager face, stretched out his hand
and grasped mine, saying, “Sir, I am very
anxious to get salvation.”’

I said, ‘God is very anxious that you should
have it.”

He listened earnestly to hear what I would
say to him, hoping some word would give him
peace; but I only put the gospel to him in the
most familiar texts of Scriptures. As I re-
minded him that ‘‘God so loved the world that
he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish, but should
have everlasting life,’ he stopped me by saying:

‘‘But I do believe in Jesus.’

I replied, “‘Jesus said, ‘He that believeth on
me hath everlasting life.’””

A look of astonishment and joy immediately
broke over his face as he said, ‘‘Then I’ve got
it? Thank God, I’ve got everlasting life.”