The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1884, Page 11

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11

A Noble Confessor. | How a Story grows.

When Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, was

law.

With this intention he went to Molly

Sanders, the washerwoman, who had been busy

A farmer was once told that his turnip field |in spreading the report, to know the whole

standing before the Judge into whose presence | had been robbed, and that the robbery had been truth; but Molly denied ever having said any-

he had been summoned, the latter said to him: | committed by a poor inoffensive man, of the | thing about a wagon load of turnips. It was

“I will give you free if you will but curse) name of Palmer, who many of the people of | but a cart load that Palmer had taken, and
ad taken,

Christ, and swear.’’
with deep emotion, said: “I have served Him | of turnips

sut the aged Christian, | the village said had taken away a wagon load | Dame Hodson, the huckster, had told her so
J < ne yh ?
Farmer Brown, much exasperated | over and over again. The farmer hearing this,

for 86 years, and He never did me any harm: | by the loss of his turnips, determined to prose-| went to Dame Hodson, who said that Molly
» ehs LYS > Ki , ¢ q » Pe ew « severity ? S H < z x
how shall I curse my King who has blessed | cute poor Palmer with all the severity of the | Sanders was always making things worse than

me?’’ The judge then declared
that if Polycarp would not yield,
he would tame him with fire, to
which the Confessor of Christ re-
plied: ‘‘You threaten me with
fire which burns but 1 moment,
and is soon extinguished, but you
know nothing of the eternal fire
which is reserved for the godless.’
Hereupon the Proconsul com-
manded it to be made known by
his herald, that Polycarp had
confessed that he was a Christian.
The enemies of Christ then eried
out: ‘This is the teacher of Asia,
the father of the Christians, the
destroyer of our gods, who has
deceived many so that they no
more sacrifice or pray to them.
Let him be burned alive.’’” Wood
was now hastily gathered by the
multitude. As they were about
to bind the aged martyr to the
stake, he said: ‘‘Leave me as I
am. He who gives me strength
to endure the flames, will also
give me power to stand in the
fire without being bound with -
cords, or fastened by nails.”
Then, with his hands tied upon
his back, he prayed: ‘‘Lord God
Almighty, Father of Thy beloved
and blessed Son, Jesus Christ,
Thou God of Angels and of Prin-
cipalities, and of all Creatures,
and of all Saints that walk be-
fore Thy face, I thank Thee, that
Thou has deemed me worthy on
this day, and in this hour, to re-
ceive my heritage, among Thy

martyrs to the resurrection unto O Virgin-born,
eternal life both of body and soul, Thy death we mourn,
and to incorruptibility through Thou lovely Star of gladness,

the Holy Ghost. For this I praise
Thee; Iexalt Thee; I glorify Thee
through the Eternal High Priest,

Who could see Thy reeking blood
Void of grief and sadness?

Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son, to Yea, blest shall he

whom, with Thee and the Holy Forever be,

Ghost, be honor and praise both Who ponders well this story,
now and for ever more. Amen.” That into a tomb was laid
—The fire was kindled and the ,— He, the Lord of Glory.

soul of the noble confessor soon © i ee

passed into the presence of Him esus blest!

who has said: ‘Whosoever shall My help and rest! :
confess me before men, him will I With tears, Lord, I entreat Thee:
confess also before my Father Let me love Thee to the last,
which is in heaven,’’ Matt. 10, 32. Till in heaven I greet Thee!

they really were; that Palmer
had taken only a wheelbarrow full
of turnips, and that she had her
account from Jenkins, the tailor.

Away went the farmer to Jen-
kins, the tailor, who stoutly de-
nied the account altogether; he
had only told Dame Hodson that
Palmer had pulled up several tur-
nips, but how many he could not
tell, fur he did not seé him him-
self, but was told it by Tom Slack,
the plowman. Wondering where
this would end, Farmer Brown
next questioned Tom Slack, who,
in his turn, declared he had never
said a word about seeing Palmer
pull up several turnips; he only
said, he had heard say that Palmer
had pulled up a turnip, and that
Barnes, the Barber, was the per-
son who had told him about it.
The farmer, almost out of pa-
tience at this account, hurried off
to Barnes, the barber; who won-
dered much that people should
find pleasure in spreading idle
tales which had no truth in them!
He assured the farmer all he had
said about the matter, while he
took off the beard of Tom Slack,
was, that for all he knew, Palmer
was as likely a man to pull up a
turnip as his neighbors.

—s-o<P o- —o

The Skeptic Silenced.

A conceited skeptic, Eunomius,
boasted that he had as great a
knowledge of God and of His
being as of himself, and that
none of the divine things were
hidden from him. Basilius the
Great wrote a letter to him in
which he asked him twenty ques-
tions concerning the ant. Euno-
mius was unable to answer even a
single one correctly. Thereupon
Basilius said to him: If you can
not thoroughly comprehend and
search out the nature of so insig-
nificant a creature as the ant,
how dare’you boast that you fully

- understand the incomprehensible

nature and being of God?—From
the German.

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