The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1890, Page 19

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 19

For Christ’s Sake.

spirits, always ready to raise laughter and
mirth, and as jolly a fellow as any one of you!
Think you not, if God really existed, He would
in some way show His disapprobation of my
actions, and put a stop to my work?”’

Scarcely had these words been uttered when
a farmer, who was present, arose and spoke as
follows:

“T have a little dog at home that barks at
everything he sees; even the moon, when it
ascends the clear blue skies, does he salute with
his continual barking. And the moon con-
tinues to shine without taking any particular
notice of the brute’s barking. Just so with the
speaker whom you have just heard. He has
barked, and he barks at and rebels against the
Almighty, as my little dog does at the’ moon.
And what does God do? Why, He maketh
His sun to rise on the evil and on the good and
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Very patient is He and slow to anger, because
He has an eternity before him. But a day is
coming when an account must be rendered by
all the children of men, as the Scriptures write.
‘But thou, O man, dost thou think to escape
the judgment of God, or dost thou despise the
richness of His patience and goodness, dost thou
not know that the goodness of God leadeth thee
to repentance?’”” Rom. 2, 34. These simple
but convincing words left a deep impression
upon the audience. And the testimony was
not borne in vain. Barker afterwards con-
fessed his errors, humbled himself, and ended
his earthly career proclaiming the blessed Gos-
pel of the Saviour of the world.

sign from him, the officers who stood ready
with their wooden rods, of the fashion of the
Romans, instantly seized the boy. Gladly
would the mother have saved her timid dove,
even at the cost of her own life, but she could
not do so; yet she did whisper to him to trust
in the love of Christ, and to speak the truth.

‘“What can the love of Christ do for him
now?”’ asked the judge.

‘“‘It enables him to endure what his Master
endured for him and for us all,’’ was the reply.
And again they smote the child.

‘What can the love of Christ do for him?’’
And tears fell even from the eyes of the heathen,
as that mother, as much tortured as her son,
answered, ‘‘It teaches him to forgive his perse-
cutors.””

The boy watched his mother’s eyes as they
rose up to heaven for him; and when his tor-
mentors asked whether he would not now ac-
knowledge the gods they served, and deny
Christ, he still said, ‘‘No; there is no other
God but one; and Jesus Christ is the Redeemer
of the world. He loved me, and I love Him
for His love.”

The poor boy now fainted beneath the re-
peated strokes, and they cast the bruised body
into the mother’s arms, crying, ‘‘See what the
love of your Christ can do for him now!””

As the mother pressed her child gently to
her own crushed heart, she answered, ‘‘ That
love will take him from the wrath of man to
the rest of heaven.”

‘‘Mother,”’ cried the dying boy, “give me a
drop of water from our cool well upon my
tongue.” ;

The mother said, ‘“‘Already, dearest, thou
hast tasted of the well that springeth up to
everlasting life—the grace which Christ gives
to His little ones. Thou hast spoken the truth
in love; arise now, for thy Saviour calleth for
thee. May He grant thy poor mother grace
to follow in the bright path!”

The little martyr faintly raised his eyes, and
said again, ‘‘There is but one God, and Jesus
Christ whom He has sent;’’ and so saying he
gave up his life.— Golden Sayings for the Young.

In one of my early journeys, writes Dr. Mof-
fatt, I came, with my companions, to a heathen
~ village on the banks of the Orange River. We
had traveled far, and were very hungry, thirsty
and fatigued; but the people of the village
rather roughly directed us to halt at a distance.
We asked for water, but they would not sup-
ply it. I offered the three or four buttons left
on my jacket for a drink of milk; but was re-
fused. We had the prospect of another hungry
night at a distance from water, though within
sight of the river.

When twilight came on a woman approached
from the height beyond which the village lay.
She bore on her head a bundle of wood, and
had a vessel of milk in her hand. The latter,
without opening her lips, she handed to us,
laid down the wood and returned to the village.
A second time she approached with a cooking
vessel on her head, a leg of mutton in one hand
and a vessel of water in the other. She sat
down without saying a word, prepared the fire
and put on the meat. We asked her again and
again who she was. She remained silent, until
we affectionally entreated her to give a reason
for such unlooked-for kindness to strangers.
Then the tears rolled down her sable cheeks, and
she replied:

“I love Him whose you are, and surely it is
my duty to give you a cup of cold water in His
name. My heart is full, therefore I can not
speak the joy which I feel in seeing you in this
out-of-the-world place.’’

On learning a little of her history, and that
she was a solitary light burning in a dark place,
I asked how she kept up the light of God in the
entire absence of the communion of saints. She
drew from her bosom a copy of the Dutch New
Testament which she had received from a mis-
sionary some years before; ‘‘This,’’ said she,
‘ig the fountain whence I drink; this is the
oil that makes my lamp burn.’’

I looked on the precious relic, printed by the
British and Foreign Bible Society, and the
render may conceive my joy while we mingled
prayers and sympathies together at the throne
of the heavenly Father.

—s-c-<P o> oo -

A youthful Martyr. -

In the first ages of the Church of Christ, in
the city of Antioch, a believer was carried forth
to die as a martyr. ‘‘Ask any little child,”
said he, “whether it were better to worship
one God, the Maker of heaven and earth, and
one Saviour, who is able to save us, or to wor-
ship the many false gods whom the heathen
serve?”’

Now, it was so that a Christian mother had
come to the spot, holding in her hand a little
son, of about nine or ten years old, named
Cyril. The heathen judge no sooner heard the
martyr’s words than his eyes rested on the child,
and he desired the question to be put to him.

The question was asked: and, to the surprise
of those who heard it, the boy replied, “‘God
is one, and Jesus Christ is one with the Father.’”

The judge was filled with rage. ‘‘Oh, base
Christian!’ he cried, ‘‘thou hast taught that
child to answer thus.’’ Then turning to the
boy, he said more mildly, ‘Tell me, child, how
did you learn this faith?”’ ;

The boy looked lovingly in his mother’s face,
and replied, ‘It was God’s grace that taught it
to my dear mother, and she taught it to me.”

’ «Yet us now see what the love of Christ can
do for you,’’ cried the cruel judge; and at a

How God uses little Things.

<> 9

The Infidel and the Farmer.

A nut once saved the life of a German count.
A plot had been laid to murder him, and the
murderer lay in his castle through the day.
Before going to bed the count drew some things
from his pocket, and a nut fell on the floor, which
he did not notice. That night the murderer
entered the bed-room, but stepped on the nut,
which, breaking, cracked loud enough to waken
the count, and the murderer fled. Who would
say that all this was mere accident? In God’s
providence the man might have stepped just
beside that nut, or the count might have picked
it up, or he might not have let it fall, or one
of a dozen other things might have been; but
we know what it was, and this was not by
chance. All things are in God’s hands.

The following occurrence was related in a
religious gathering in New York City: .

Joseph Barker, an atheist, who for years had
been traveling through villages and cities to
spread his poisonous doctrines, one day stopped
in a little village where, in his usual vehement
manner, he was attacking the Word of God
and Christianity. Among other things he
said: ‘Ifa God really existed, do you not think
that He would concern Himself about me,
since I have made it the object of my life to
oppose Him and His Word? Look at me fora
moment; behold my strength, always in good

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