The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1886, Page 42

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42

The Lutheran Pioneer.

The Tempter in the House of God and
Outside of the Same.
(Translated from the German.)

A certain man, on his way to church, was
very much surprised to find the devil going in
the same direction.

“What are you going to do there?’’ asked
the man in great astonishment.

“Why should I not be there,” replied the
devil, ‘“‘where they pray and preach against
me? Who will defend me if I don’t do it my-
self?””

‘‘And how do you do that?” inquired the
church-goer.

The devil answered: ‘‘Oh! there I have a
thousand ways and means to accomplish my
purpose. First of all, I enter on Sunday
morning the homes of those who are getting
ready for church, and endeavor to disturb
their minds by means of a little family dis-
pute, or a stiff and contrary collar, a button
torn off, a dull razor, or a lost glove, a torn
garter, a mislaid handkerchief, or a disar-
ranged article of clothing; that is what pleases
me; in that way I get the people in a frame
of mind best suited to my purpose.

On the other hand, for those who appear
calm and undisturbed in church I have other
resources ready. Do you see that young lady
there? I have but to direct her eyes upon the
hats and cloaks of her neighbors and her devo-
tion and attention to the sermon is vanished.
There you notice several young gentlemen:
are not both the glances and thoughts already
riveted upon the ladies in church?’ The atten-
tion of others again is engaged in catching at
certain unguarded expressions or grammatical
errors of the preacher in his sermon, so that
they may have something to find fault with in
him when they return home. And there sits a
pale-faced lady, who is in great terror lest the
slightest draft of air will give her a fresh cold,

and it is easy work for me to make her imagine
that such is actually taking place now, when
she will think of nothing else during the whole
service. ‘Those two business men there cannot
withdraw their thoughts from the latest news
they have read this very morning in the pa-
pers before they came tochurch. And there
are two honorable citizens with whom I have
the least trouble, for they suppose that the
sins of which the preacher rebukes them are
the sins of their neighbors or acquaintances,
thus very kindly giving the sermon away, in-
stead of taking it to themselves. Others very
soon become drowsy, and lose the entire ser-
mon in the deafness of sleep. But should I
" not succeed in any of these ways in reaching
certain church-goers, then I manage them on
their way home. Some I induce to make calls
upon their friends, where the conversation will
be calculated to efface every thing from their
minds that they heard in the sermon, or get
them to dispute about certain church rules and
"practices so that they will forget all they heard

‘during the entire service. You see, by these

means I am usually successful, both in and out
of church, in taking away all the good from the
hearts of the church-goers, and making them
unsusceptible for the reception of the gospel.”

In this way did the devil, who sometimes is
very foolish, betray the secrets with which he
hinders the gospel from accomplishing good,
which is herewith made known as a warning
to all church-goers; and it accords well with
what Jesus said in Mark 4, 15, ‘‘And these are
they by the wayside, where the word is sown;
but when they have heard, Satan cometh im-
mediately, and taketh away the word that was
sown in their hearts.”—G. 0. F.

+s +a or oe

A Bleak Home.

On the map of Iceland may be seen a speck
of an island called Grimsey. It is the most
northern, and consequently the coldest, of the
Iceland group. LEighty-eight people, no more,
live on it. They have tried to keep a few cows,
but the winters are too hard for them. Two
horses and a few sheep, with very: coarse flee-
ces, are the only animals of the kind on the
island.

A minister, whose name is Peter Goodman-
sen, lives in the remote place. He is a poet
and an astronomer, and is employed to take
observations for the Meteorological Institute at
Copenhagen. Once or twice a year some of
the islanders visit the mainland; but the
stormy seas, covered with icebergs, make the
passage always dangerous. : :

On one side of the island, which is a high
precipice, countless birds build their nests, and
the collecting of eggs is one chief means of liv-
ing for the little settlement. Men are let down
over the face of the rocks by ropes. They
wear suits thickly wadded with feathers, to
save themselves from being hurt on the sharp
rocks. Each man carries a pole to help him-
self with, and ladle for scooping up nests he
cannot reach with his hands. There is in his
frock a great pocket, in which he can put one
hundred and fifty eggs. ‘There he works, with

the sea roaring beneath him.
S. —_+ +e o>
For the Lambs and Sheep of Christ’s Flock.

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not
want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures; He leadeth me beside the still wa-
ters.’? Ps. 23, 1. 2.

‘*He fed them according to the integrity of
His heart; and guided them by the skillfulness
of His hands.’”’ Ps. 78, 72.

‘J will seek out My sheep, and will deliver
them out of all places where they have been
scattered in the cloudy and dark day.’’ Ezek.
84, 12.

“T give unto them eternal life; and they
shall never perish, neither shall any pluck
them out of my hand.’”’? John 10, 28.

‘*He shall feed them, and shall lead them
unto living fountains of waters.’? Rev. 7, 17.

The Lutheran Church of America a Mis-
sionary Church.

As early as the year 1637 a small colony of
Protestants sailed up the Delaware River.
They were Swedes, they were Lutherans sent
out by Gustavus Adolphus’ great prime minis-
ter, Oxenstierna. In 1638 a little log build-
ing was finished and was consecrated as a
church by Pastor John Campanius, on the
present site of Wilmington, Del. It was the
first Protestant church built in America. The
little colony flourished and soon other pastors
were sent over and other churches erected along
this river, until in the spring of 1677 the pas-
tor J. Fabricius consecrated a church on the
present site of Philadelphia.

These little sanctuaries were surrounded by
savages. But from the first planting of the
Church on American soil, it became mission-
ary in its character, and an effort was at once
made to reach these barbarian people.

No sooner had these pious Swedish emi-
grants provided for their own households, than
they began to preach the gospel of Christ to
the Indians. They learned their language,
sought them out in their camps, and followed
them through dark forests, over streams and
mountains in their hunting expeditions, every-
where seeking to lead them to the knowledge
of the truth. It was by Swedish Lutheran
missionaries that the first book of Christian
instruction ever translated into any Indian
tongue was published. It was Luther's Small
Catechism translated into the Mohicken dia-
lect; a copy of which rare book is in the lib-
rary of Muhlenberg College, Pa.

This was to be the keynote of the future efforts
of the Lutheran Church in America. It was to
be a missionary chwrch, and its first missionary
work was among the heathen. Workman.

——_s + 0-<>e +

Dancing.

Here is what the New York Journal of Edu-
cation, a purely secular paper, says about dan-*
cing: ‘‘A great deal can be said about dan-
cing; for instance, the Chief of Police of New’
York city says that three-fourths of the aban-
doned girls in this city were ruined by dan-
cing. Young ladies allow gentlemen privileges
in dancing which, taken under any other cir-
cumstances, would be considered as improper.
Tt requires neither brains nor good morals to be a
good dancer. As the love of’ the one increases,
the love of the other decreases. How many
of the best men and women are skillful dan-
cers? In ancient times the sexes danced sepa-
rately. Alcohol is the spirit of beverages. So
sex is the spirit of the dance; take it away,
and let the sexes dance separately, and dan-
cing would go out of fashion very soon. Parlor
dancing is dangerous. It sows to the wind,
and reaps the whirlwind. Put dancing in the
crucible, apply the acids, weigh it, and the
verdict- of reason, morality and religion is,
‘Weighed in the balance and found wanting.’””

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