The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1890, Page 27

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

24

|

Safe in the Lord’s Protection. |
Some years ago there lived a forester and |
this family in the mountains of Prussia. He|

the window, seizes the Bible, and leaving his
knife behind, leaps out and disappears.

In the morning the forester and family are|
much surprised to find the window open, a

|
|

Thou shalt not bear false Witness against
thy Neighbor.

Eusebius relates that at one time there lived

was an officer of the king, and his duty was|sharp knife on the table, and the Bible missing. | a bishop in Jerusalem called Narcissus. This

to take care of the great woods. His wife and

his mother who lived with him, were Christian
women, but-he laughed about religion.

However, he was a faithful officer.. The

* forests had been infested by a band of robbers, |

cand he had succeeded in capturing all of them |

but the leader. This leader was a strong and |

Afterwards it was all made plain, and the for-

ester no longer laughed at his wife for trusting
in the Lord.

—_— + oo

“Oh! if | had listened!”

In the gloomy cell of an Indian jail a num-

same bishop being accused, there appeared
against him three false witnesses who in the
‘most lying and malicious manner slandered the
pious man.

The first of them swore that if his testimony
was not true, fire should consume him. The
second said that if he did not speak the truth,

‘cunning and very wicked man. He had vowed | ber of prisoners were attentively listening to a|a horrible disease might befall him. The third

that he would have revenge on the forester.

One stormy evening the officer failed to
reach home at his usual time. His wife
and mother became uneasy, not only for
his welfare, but for their own. They
feared the leader of the robber-band
might come that very evening, and they
would be unable to protect themselves.
So they waited for the absent one with
anxiety.

At last the mother said it would not
do for them to give way to fear. She
thought they ought to put their trust in
the Lord. Then the Bible was opened
and the wife read the seventy-first psalm.
Here is one verse she read: ‘‘ Deliver
me, O my God, out of the hand of the
wicked, out of the hand of the unright-
eous and cruel man.”? After reading this
psalm the family sang a hymn, and a fer-
vent prayer for God’s protection was of-
fered.

Scarcely had they finished their wor-
ship when the well-known steps of the
forester were heard. He had reached
home in safety. ‘The wife then told him
of how anxious they had been all evening,
fearing lest the robber would come, and
how that they had just been praying. He
smiled, and said she was a foolish woman.
As for himself he preferred to trust to
his good weapons and his faithful dogs.

Then he locked the doors and windows,
unchained his dogs, and loaded his fire-
arms, and retired, supposing himself to
be perfectly safe.

An hour or two Jater himself and family are
sound asleep. But there is one in the house
who is not asleep. From under a bench in the
sitting room a man stealthily crawls. It is no
other than the leader of the robber-band. He
had secreted himself there about sun-down and
had heard the entire conversation of the even-
ing. He had heard the psalm that had been
read and the prayer that had been offered.
He had come to murder these people while
they slept. In his hand is a large, sharp knife.
He lays it upon the table and takes up the
Bible which lies opened at the seventy-first
psalm. He tries to read these wonderful words
by the light of the moon. Two or three times
he lays down the book and takes up his knife.
But somehow he can not do the bloody work
he had intended to do. After a while he raises

EVENING PRAYER.

Now I lay me down to sleep;
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
It I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Wishing to ascertain

to study the Scriptures.
if they possessed the precious volume, he put
the question, ‘‘Have any of you a Bible?”’
‘*No,”? was the reply. -
‘Have any of you ever possessed the Bible?’| once in going from Jerusalem, she lost her own

After a considerable pause, a soldier,

was under sentence of death for murdering a| me.
and amidst sobs| not lose me.

black man, broke the silence,

and tears confessed that he once had a Bible. | says:
“But oh!” said he, “I sold it foradrink! It} pluck them out of my h
was the companion of my youth. I brought it
with me from the native land. Oh! if I had
listened to my Bible, I should not have been

here!”’ :

Friend, have you a Bible? “How often do plication, Wet
ll guide| send up faint prayers in time of prosperity, but

you read it? Use it aright and it wi

you to glory. Negleet it, and it will condemn

you at the last day.—Zuth. Child's Paper.

| gentleman who was earnestly entreating them|swore that blindness should afflict him lest

what he said was so. As they desired so
it came to pass. The first was burned to
death in his own house, which was de-
stroyed by fire. The second fell a prey
to a most loathsome disease which, after
much great suffering, caused his death.
The third, having witnessed the terrible
punishment of his wicked associates, was
seized by remorse, weeping so much that
he eventually turned blind.

What a terrible warning this is to all
who are in the habit of lying and swear-
ing; and especially to those who, by oath,
bear false witness against their neighbor!
True, God does not always punish the
liar, the swearer, and the perjurer right
away, but they shall certainly receive
the reward of their wicked deeds, for
“the Lord will not hold him guiltless that
taketh His name in vain.”

———s - o-<>e - 2 ___

The Irish Boy and the Romish Priest.

An Irish boy asked his priest: ‘Will
the Virgin Mary take care of me?”

‘“‘Yes, my son, if you are true to the
requirements of the holy Catholic Church,
she will take care of you.”

“Are you sure she will take care of
me?”’

‘«Quite sure, if you do as I have com-
manded you.”

‘¢ Will she keep my soul and take me
to heaven when I die?”’
‘Yes, if you die in the bosom of the Church.” -
‘You are very sure, sir?””
‘“‘Yes, quite sure.”
“‘ Well, sir, I am not sure, for I read that

who| child; and if she could lose him, she might lose -

But Jesus will take care of me.. He will
He knows His sheep and He
‘They shall not perish, neither shall any
and.’ ”?
> - eae _

Sancririep afflictions drive us from the
world to God, teach us to live by faith, warm
the spirit in prayer, and urge prayer into sup-
as they did in Moses. We usually

in stormy times we fly to our Rock, and mourn
sore like doves in the cleft of the mountains.