The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1892, Page 43

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 43

The Story of Faith.

- Some time ago I stood by the bedside of a
sick laborer who had a wife and four children.
He had Jain sick for three weeks, and the sick-
ness had exhausted all his means. Noticing
that he was weeping while we sang a precious
song of Zion, I asked him why he wept? was
he troubled with the thought of parting with
his wife and children? He looked at me stead-
fastly, almost reproachfully, and answered :

“Does not Jesus stay with them? Has not
the Lord said He is a Father to the fatherless,
and a Judge of the widow? No; they are all
cared for. I have prayed the Lord that He
would be their guardian. Is it not so, wife?
You are not troubled; you are not afraid;
you believe in Jesus.”’

“‘Surely,’’ she replied, ‘‘I believe in Jesus,
and rejoice that you go to Jesus. 1 shall fol-
low you, with the children in His own time.
Jesus will help me to train up the children
through His Holy Spirit.”’

“Why did you weep, then?’’ I asked.

“Yor joy; for I thought if the singing is so
beautiful here, O, how beautiful will it be when
the angels help in it! I wept for joy that this
blessedness is so near.’’

Then he motioned to his wife. She under-
stood, and went to the shelf, and brought
down a little saucer in which her husband
kept his money. ‘There were six groschen
(about seven pence) in it, all that remained
of his store. He took them out with trem-
bling fingers, and laid them in my hand, and
said:

“The heathen must have these, that they
may know how to dice in peace.’’

I turned to his wife who nodded assent, and
said:

‘“We have talked it over already. When
everything has been reckoned for the funeral
these six groschen remain.”’

‘And what remains for you?”’

‘The Lord Jesus,’’ she replied.

‘“‘And what do you leave for your wife and
children ?’’

‘eThe Lord Jesus,’’ he said; and whispered
in my ear: ‘‘He is very good, and very rich.”’

So I took the six groschen, and laid them
in the mission box as a great treasure, and
it has been a struggle for me to pay them
away. Butif they had not been paid away,
the dying man’s wish would not have been
fulfilled.

That night he fell asleep. And neither his
wife nor his three eldest children wept—
neither in the church nor at the grave. But
the youngest child, a boy of about five years,

-who followed the body, wept bitterly. I

asked him afterward why he wept so bitterly
at his father’s grave, and the child made
answer:
« “tT was so sorry that father did not take
me with him to the Lord Jesus, for I begged
of him with my whole heart that he would
take me.”’ ;

take you along with him; only the Saviour
could do that: you should pray to Him.”’

he asked.

you, He Himself will call for you: but if He
will have you to grow up you must help your
mother, and have her live with you; will

you?”’

I would like to grow up that mother might
live with me.’’

Jesus that He must choose.’’

greatly delighted, and in peace.

“My child,’’ I said, ‘‘your father could not} were not spared. The Romish soldiers fast-
ened them on their spears and held them in
the flames. ‘The city was plundered and set
on fire, and of one of the finest cities in Ger-
many nothing remained but the cathedral and
a few fishermen’s huts. Tilly gloried over his
cruelty, but it was the last victory he won.
Gustavus Adolphus met him near Leipzig and
completely defeated the ‘‘victor of thirty-six
battles.’’ He followed him into Southern Ger-
many and there again defeated him. In this
battle Tilly was mortally wounded. Thus the
Swedish king advanced victoriously and every-
where freed the Protestants from the oppres-
sion under which they had so long groaned.
‘«That is what I will do,’’ he said, and was| But the war was not yet ended. The Romish
emperor again called Wallenstein to the chief
command, who, having gathered a new army,
met the Swedes at Lutzen. On the 6th of No-
vember, 1632, the battle began. In the morn-
ing Gustavus conducted the service in his
camp. The Swedish army sang Luther’s battle
hymn, ‘SA mighty Fortress is our God,’”’ and
also Gustavus’s own battle hymn, the first
stanza of which is as follows:

“Ought I, then, to pray to Him for it?”’

“No, my child, if the Saviour will take

He said: ‘‘I would like to go to Jesus, and

‘*Now then,’’ I replied, ‘‘say to the Lord

(Pastor Harms, in ‘Good Words.’’)

‘‘Fear not, O little flock, the foe
Who madly seeks our overthrow;
Dread not his rage and power,
What though your courage sometimes faints!
This seeming triumph o’er God’s saints Q
Lasts but a little hour.” /

The king and his army then kneeled down and
offered prayer.

After the service the king mounted his horse
and placed his army in battle array. He gave
the watchword, ‘‘Gop Wirtn Us,’’ then, swing-
ing his sword above his head, he uttered the
word of command, and with the cry, ‘‘On-
ward!’’ he rushed forward, followed by the
eager troops. The Romish army was com-
pletely defeated and the Swedes were victo-
rious. The -victory, however, was dearly
bought. Gustavus Adolphus fell in this battle.
The Swedish soldiers carried the disfigured
body of their beloved king from the battle
field. It was laid to rest in the Lutheran
church at Stockholm, in which city a magnifi-
cent bronze statue of the Lutheran Hero King
has been erected to his honor. On Novem-
ber 6th of each year the citizens of that city
gather around the statue and sing hymns, in-
cluding Gustavus’s own battle hymn.

The spot where Gustavus fell was marked
by the Swede’s stone, erected by his servant
on the night of the battle. But in the year
1832, the second centennial of the battle of
Lutzen,- the German people replaced the
Swede’s stone with a fine monument, thereby
paying tribute to the memory of that ‘‘noble
champion of the Lutheran faith.””

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Gustavus Adolphus.

In the year 1618 a terrible war broke out in
Germany, which lasted till 1648 and is there-
fore called the Thirty Years’ War. The papists,
who began the war, intended to destroy Prot-
estantism and to suppress the Lutheran doc-
trine throughout Germany. The armies of
the Romish emperor, under the command of
the able but cruel Generals Wallenstein and
Tilly, overran both Germany and Denmark and
everywhere defeated the Evangelical Princes.
Romish darkness again threatened to cover the
Church, and it seemed as if religious liberty
were totally crushed. Butin this time of great
need God came to the aid of His Church. He
moved the heart of Gustayus Adolphus, the
Lutheran King of Sweden, to come to the res-
cue of his brethren in Germany. In June,
1630, Gustavus entered Germany with 15,000
men. They were brave and noble soldiers. In
the army of the Lutheran King of Sweden no
cursing was heard, but prayers and hymns of
praise. Morning and evening services were
daily held in the camp, and in all things the
king himself set his people a good example.

Upon reaching German soil, Gustavus hast-
ened to the relief of the Lutheran City of Mag-
deburg. _ But before he arrived, Tilly, the
Romish General, had stormed the city and
slaughtered 30,000 men. Even the children

As in the days of the flood there was but
one object to be seen floating over the wild
watery waste, and that object was the ark,
the only place of safety ; so now the only place
of safety is in Christ. It was not the ark and
something else, but the ark alone. It itis not
Christ and something else, but Christ alone.

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