The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1888, Page 11

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 11

—SS—SSSS—a—e eee

A Hero of Duty.

In the north of Holland, over an extent of
three leagues, the country is not protected from
the incursions of the sea by any natural barrier.
Some two hundred years ago the Dutch under-
took the gigantic task of erecting enormous
dykes of granite blocks and clay to resist the
force of their terrible invader. Behind this
shelter numerous villages arose, which flourish
to the present day. Alkmond in particular,
which numbers 10,000 inhabitants, is built a
little below the dyke, which is kept in constant
repair by two hundred workmen, under the di-
rection of an engineer.

One afternoon in November, about a century
ago, a furious wind was blowing from the north-
west, increasing every moment. The engineer
in charge was a young man, engaged to be
married, whose friends and family lived in
Amsterdam. He was to go to Amsterdam
that very evening to join in a great festival,
long looked forward to and eagerly desired.
His preparations were all made and he was in
high spirits, just ready to set out. Suddenly
the sound of the rising wind struck upon his
ear, and he remembered with a pang of anxiety
that it was the time of the high tides. He
thought of his dyke and of all that depended
on it. It would be a dreadful disappointment
not to go. But the dyke! His friends would
be all expecting him, watching for him. What
would they think? But the dyke! There was
a fierce conflict between inclination and duty.

It is six o'clock. The sea is rising. But at
seven he must set out for Amsterdam. Shall
he go? His heart says Yes; duty says No.
Again he looks at the sea, watches the rising
storm, and decides to remain at his post.

He then runs to the dyke. It is a scene of
the utmost ‘confusion. His two hundred men
are aghast, bewildered. The storm has become
a hurricane. The supply of tow and mortar
is exhausted. They are at their wits’ end to
know how to repair the breaches—how to de-
fend the place against the terrible enemy who
is every moment gaining upon them. But as

soon as the young engineer appears a joyous
cry bursts from every breast, ‘‘ Here is the
master! God be praised! Now all will be well!”’

The master places each workman at his post
and a desperate battle begins between man
and the furious ocean. About half-past eleven
there is a cry from the centre—

“Help! help!”

‘What is the matter?’’

‘*Four stones carried away at a blow!”’

‘Where is that?’’ -

‘‘Here to the left.”

The master does not lose a moment. He
fastens’a rope round his body: four workmen
do the same; and forty arms seize the ropes,
while the five brave fellows throw themselves
into the waves to repair the damage. The mad
Waves struggle with them, dash them about,
blind them. No matter; they do their duty,
and then they are hauled on land again.

But the ery, ‘‘ Help! help!” soon rises from How He Found God.

all parts.

“‘Stones!’’ cries one.

‘There are no more.’’

“*Mortar!”’

‘‘There is no more.’’

“Take off your clothes!’’ cries the master,
tearing off his-own; ‘stop the holes with
them!’’ What will not men do for a noble
leader in a great cause? Cheerfully, without
& murmur, straining every nerve, the gallant
two hundred toil on, half naked, exposed to all
the fury of a November tempest.

It wants a quarter to midnight. A few
inches more and the sea will have burst over
the dyke and spread furiously over the de-
fenceless country. To-morrow there will not
be a living soul in all those flourishing villages.
The clothes are all used up; but the danger
increases; the tide will rise till midnight.

““Now, my men,” said the clear, thrilling
voice of the master, ‘‘we can do nothing more.
On our kness, all of you, and let us each cry
mightily to God for help.’’

And there, in the midnight darkness, on the
dyke, which shook and trembled beneath the
fury uf the tempest, the brave two hundred
knelt, lifting their hands and their hearts to
Him who can say to the winds and the waves,
‘Peace; be still.’”? And as upon the Sea of
Galilee, so now He heard His children’s cry
and delivered them in their distress.

Meanwhile the people of Alkmond ate and
drank and sang, little thinking that there were
but a few inches of mason-work between them
and death! Thousands of lives had been saved
because one christian man had done his duty.

British Messenger.

——s +o oe

More than a hundred years have passed since
a young lad in England, who belonged toa pious
family, but was himself far from God, was to
find God by strange means. He had been the
child of many prayers, but to all the entreaties
of his mother and others, he answered by in-
wardly resolving not to become a Christian.

In the good providence of God, however, it
happened to his good mother to be on a visit to
Ireland, and on the Lord’s day they went toa
place where an earnest pastor was to preach.
This man was that day very earnest in his ser-
mon; he put the question to the unsaved pres-
ent, whether they would give themselves to
Christ or remain rebels. Every time the preacher
repeated the question the young man said in
his own heart, ‘‘No, I will not yield.’’ His
heart was hardened against God. And at the
close of the sermon it seemed to be harder than
ever it had been. But when the sermon was
finished, the minister gave out-a hymn. It
begins:

“Come ye sinners, poor and wretched,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore.”

The congregation, stirred by the earnest ser-
mon, sang the hymn with their whole heart.
And what the sermon could not do, the singing
of the hymn did. It broke the hard, unyield-
ing heart. It was the voice of God calling him
through the hundreds of voices that day prais-
ing God. His pride, his hardness of heart,
everything that stood in his way to God gave
way. And that day the son who was in the
far land found God, and gave himself to be a
loyal soldier for God for evermore. And he
lived himself to be an honored preacher of the
gospel, and the writer of a hymn that has
opened a way to-God in thousands of hearts.
He was Augustus Toplady, the author of the
great hymn,

“Rock of ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in thee.”’
' Selected.

True Church Devotion.

A pious Swedish girl left her Christian Lu-
theran home in Sweden aud came to America
and found employment in Bethlehem, Pa. In
writing to her parents, informing them of her
new place of residence she did not forget to
mention that she is attending the services of
her own dear Lutheran Church in this distant
land and among strangers, where she is rapidly
learning the English language, and already
uniting in the Church service conducted in the
tongue.

In her parents’ reply to this letter, they
stated that when they read that their daughter,
far away from home, was still able to attend
the Lutheran Church, they both had to weep
tears of joy and thankfulness for this inesti-
mable favor of Providence in leading their
child toa place where she could worship God
in the way in which they themselves worshiped
Him. May this sincere and beautiful Church
devotion on the part of the Swedish girl and
her pious parents serve as an example to the
many indifferent Lutherans who were born and
reared in this country and who so easily forget
and neglect their own Church.

Church Messenger.

s+ oo

Quite True.

When Chrysostom was brought up before
the emperor, the potentate thought to frighten
him into obedience to him, and said, “I'll
banish you.”” “No, you can’t,” said Chrysos-
tom, ‘for you can’t banish me from Christ.’”

‘‘Then I'll take your life,’’ cried the irate
monarch.

«You can’t,’ was the reply, ‘‘for in Christ
I live and have my being.”

“‘Then I'll confiscate your wealth.”

‘©You can’t,”” was still the response, ‘‘ for in
Christ I have all riches.”’

‘© At least,”’ the tyrant said, “I shall cause
you to lose all your friends, and you will be
virtually an outcast.”’

‘But you can not,’ Chrysostom exultantly
replied, ‘‘for I have a Friend that sticketh
closer than a brother.”’ Is it not sweet when
to our own souls, as He was to His servant

Chrysostom, Christ i is ‘all and in all?”
Selected,

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