The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1892, Page 15

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An Easter Egg of Rhymes.

that. God comes and says, ‘Here is ever-
From the Danish.

lasting life.” We keep thinking and reflect-
ing and discussing, wondering how He can
give it and how we can take it, instead of say-
ing, ‘‘It is mine!’’

Now Easter comes, full bright and fair,
The end of mourning and despair,
When all things wake to sing and play,
Because the stone is rolled away

From earth’s cold grave, and every one
Grows blithe and free; the very sun,
For joy of ransomed earth, they say,
Must dance at dawn of Easter day.

3ut some one will say the comparison is not
a good one.
a watch, that can be seen, and we have a
hand that can take hold of the watch. Whereas
eternal life is not something that can be seen,
and we have no hand that can take hold of it.
My dear friends, every day we take hold of
things not seen, and do so without a hand to
grasp them. For instance, I receive a letter
from some kind, Christian gentleman, who
writes: ‘I have placed at your credit, at such
a banker’s, $500 for missionary work.’’ I
have the letter, nothing more. And yet I tell
you, and I write home, that Ihave the money.
I have not seen it; I have simply believed.
We are acting thus all the while.

A son has grievously offended his father.
The father sends him word: ‘‘I love you. I
forgive you. Come home.’’ The son’s heart
is at rest; his eyes fill with tears. What has
done it? Nothing but a few words spoken to
him. But behind the words he feels the heart
of his father, just as I, behind the letter, see
the money in the bank, as really as the little
boy saw the teacher's watch.

Now, God has sent us His word. Think of
that! He tells us that He has given to us, not
to us believers, not to us saints, but to us sin-
ners, His Son to die for us ‘‘when we were
enemies.’’ What have we to do? Just to
take the thing as a fact because God tells us
so. Not because we understand it, or feel it,
or deserve it in any degree; not because we
have made ourselves ready for it, but because
God says so. Then will come the Spirit of
God bearing witness with our spirit that we
are indeed His children. But we must take
the gift first—7. ML.

_—__ + oo +

Uncle Phil’s Story. .

‘¢Tell us a story, Uncle Phil,’’ said Rob and
Archie, running to him.

‘‘What about?’ said Uncle Phil, as Rob
climbed on his right knee and Archie on his
left.

“Oh, about something that happened to
you,’’ said Rob.

‘*Something when you were a little boy,”’
said Archie.

Here we have a material object,

——__— - o<S> 0 -

God’s Free Gift.

i

SS) aan eN SEE ee os

God says, He so loved, not ‘‘believers,’’
but the world, that He gave His Son to be
“tthe Saviour of the world,’’ ‘‘that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.’’ Of course you can not have
this life except by believing ; that is as much
as to say, you must accept the gift in order to
have possession of it. But God has given it
to you, free as the water of the sea, free as the
air of heaven. ‘*Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely.’? But what is it to
| take? What is it to receive? It seems as
if the simplest questions were those around
which we manage to gather the thickest mists
and clouds of difliculties.

A Sunday-school teacher wanted to explain
to the children what was the gift of God, and
how they might have it. So he left his desk
and went round among the scholars with his
watch in hishand. We held it up as he passed
before them, and said to the first child, ‘‘I
give you that watch.’’ He went on to the next
and repeated, ‘‘I give you that watch.’’ The
boy blushed, and that was all he did. And so
he went slowly round the class; some of them
stared, some blushed, some smiled credulously,
but nobody took the watch.

We may imagine one of the older, wiser
boys pondering over the subject: ‘‘How can
he give us his watch? Surely he does not
mean what he says. I wonder what he is
after.’? But while the wise boy was deep in
his thought the watch passed him and he did
not take it.

Finally a small boy just reached out his
hand and took the watch. The teacher let go
the chain, and watch and chain were in the
scholar’s hand. As the teacher went back to
his place, the little fellow said very gently,
“Then, if you please, sir, the watch is mine?’’

“Yes, of course it is yours.”’

The big boys were fully aroused by this

—————

time. **Once, when I was a little boy,” said Uncle
‘‘Do you mean to say, sir, he may keep the| Phil, ‘‘I asked my mother to let Roy and my-
watch?’ 5 self go and play by the river.’’

z **Was Roy your brother?”’ asked Rob.

‘No; but he was very fond of playing with
me. My mother said, ‘yes,’ so we went and
had a good deal of sport.

“Certainly ; I gave it.’
“OQ, if I had known that,’’ exclaimed one

ken it!’”
of them, ‘‘I would have ta J Z
“pid I not tell you I gave it to you?
“OQ, yes; but I did not believe you were in
s ’
earnest.”
“So much the
me, and he has tl
Receiving the

and sailed it along the bank. At last it began
worse for you; he believed
be watch.”” 3

gift of God is as simple as| to me.

ry = 5
Lhe Lutheran Pioneer.

oe
a —

this time he did not.
and he ran towards home.

‘‘After a while I took a shingle for a boat

to get into deep water, where I couldn’t reach
it with a stick. I told Roy to go and bring it

‘*He almost always did what I told him, but
I began scolding him

“Then I was angry. I picked up a stone
and threw if at him as hard as I could.’’

‘Oh, Uncle Phil!’’ said Archie.

“Just then Roy turned his head, and it
struck him right over his eye.’’

‘Oh, Uncle Phil!’’ cried Rob.

‘Yes, it made him stagger. He gave a little
cry and lay down on the ground.

‘But I was stillangry with him. I did not
go to him, but waded into the water for my
boat.

“But it was deeper than I thought. Before
I knew it lwasinastrong current. Iscreamed
as it carried me down stream; but no men were
near to help me.

“But, as I went down under the deep wa-
ters, something took hold of me and dragged
me towards the shore. And when I was safely
landed on the bank I saw it was Roy. He had
saved my life.’’

**Good fellow! was he your cousin?’’ asked
Rob.

**No,’* replied Uncle Phil.

‘“What did you say to him?’’ asked Archie.

‘I put my arms around the dear fellow’s
neck and cried, and asked him to forgive me.’”’

‘What did he say,’’ asked Rob.

‘‘He said, ‘Bow, bow, bow!’’’

‘““Why, who was Roy, anyway ?’’ asked Ar-
chie, in great astonishment.

“He was my dog,’’ said Uncle Phil—‘‘ the
best dog I ever saw. I have never been un-
kind to a. dog or to any other animal since,
and I hope you never will be.’’—Our Little

Ones.
(~~ oo =

The Agony in the Garden.

Dr. Luther was once asked at table con-
cerning the ‘bloody sweat’’ and the other
deep spiritual sufferings which Christ endured

‘|in the garden (of Gethsemane). ‘hen he said

—‘‘No man can know or conceive what that
anguish must have been. If any man began
even to experience such suffering, he must
die. You know many do die of sickness of
heart; for heart-anguish is indeed death. If
a man could feel such anguish and distress as
Christ felt, it would be impossible for him to
endure it and for his soul to remain in his
body. Soul and body would part. To Christ
alone was this agony possible, and it wrung
from Him ‘sweat which was as great drops of
blood.’”’

——_s-o—aPe> oo

) On the third Day He rose from the Dead!

On these words Luther says, ‘‘The words,
Christ risen from the dead, should be well re-
membered, and should be written in large let-
ters, so that every letter be as large as a tower, |
yea, as large as heaven and earth, that we may
see nothing, hear nothing, think nothing, and
know nothing but this one article; Christ risen
from the dead.’’ — : i 308