The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1897, Page 43

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 43

“Except Joe Whitbread.” A few days afterward he fell asleep, prais-
ing the name of Him who is the friend of sin-
ners, and who said, ‘‘I came not to call the

righteous, but sinners to repentance.’

the sentinel’s question: ‘‘Who’s there?’’ with
‘‘Massachusetts,”” and then added: ‘My
friend, to-day you have asked me the pass-
word a second time; there is a day coming,
when all shall appear before the judgment
seat of God, and there every one will be
asked the password only once. Do you know
the password for heaven?’’

“Yes, Mr. Stuart,’’ answered the young
soldier, ‘‘and if 1 have warned you a little
while ago and permitted you to return un-
harmed, it was done because I recognized
your voice and because I once learned the
password for heaven out of your own mouth
in Sunday-school. It is as follows: ‘‘The
blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses
us from all sins.’’ (Tr.)

A lady went to the home of a sick man,
whose name was Joe Whitbread. She found
him very ill.

After speaking with him for a few minutes
concerning his health, she turned the conver-
sation to his state before God. He unhesitat-
ingly declared that in that respect he was all
right, as he had never injured any one in his
life, and was not afraid to die, altogether show-
ing his state to be one of stubborn self-right-
eousness.

Having heard all that he had to say without
making much answer, the lady proposed to
read to him a little from the Bible. He made
no objection, and she accordingly opened her
Bible at Rom. 3, 9, reading it as follows, very
slowly: :

“What then? are we better than they?
No, in no wise; for we have before proved
both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all
under sin’— except Joe Whitbread.’”’

‘**As it is written, There is none righteous,
no, not one’ — except Joe Whitbread.”’
~ *¢There is none that understandeth, there
is none that seekcth after God’ —except Joe
Whitbread.”’

““«They are gone out of the way, they are
together become unprofitable; there is none
that doeth good, no, not one’—except Joe
Whitbread.”

““*Now we know that what things soever the
law saith, it saith to them that are under the
law; that every mouth may be stopped, and
all the world may become guilty before God’
—except Joe Whitbread.”’

‘“«Therefore by the deeds of the law, there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight’ —ex-
cept Joe Whitbread.’’

‘“*But now the righteousness of God with-
out the law is manifested, being witnessed by
the law and the prophets, even the righteous-
ness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all, and upon all them that believe; for
there is no difference’—except Joe Whit-
bread.”” —

‘**¥or all have sinned, and come short of
the glory of God’ —except Joe Whitbread.’’

When the lady came to the last of these
verses, Joe cried out in distress, ‘‘Oh, stop,
stop, ma’am!?’

She, affecting surprise, asked what was the
matter, remarking, ‘‘I am only putting to-
gether what God says and what you say. God
Says ‘all have sinned;’ and you say you have
not; so that must be ‘except Joe Whitbread.’’’

Only a few more words passed, and the
lady left.

The next time she saw him, his face lighted
up with joy as he expressed his longing to see
her, that he might tell her how the word she
Tead to him opened his eyes to see his con-
dition as a sinner in the sight of God, and to
Accept Jesus as his only Sayiour from sin.

“Joy and peace,” said he, ‘have filled my
heart since the hour I trusted in Jesus.”

a

A Story of a Bell.

A very pretty story is told of the way in
which a church bell was paid for. The bell
hangs in the church tower of the little town
of Grosslasnitz, in the north of Germany. On
it is engraved its history, a bas-relief repre-
senting a six-eared stalk of wheat, and the
date, October 15, 1729.

The bell was wanted in the village, because
the one already there was so low of tone that
it could not be heard at the end of the town.
But the people were poor, and where was the
money to come from? Every one offered to
give what he could, but the united offerings
did not amount to nearly enough.

One Sunday, when the school-master, Gott-
fried Habn, was going to church, he noticed
growing out of the church-yard wall a flourish-
ing green stalk of wheat, the seed of which
must have been dropped by some passing bird.
The idea struck him that perhaps this one stalk
of wheat could be made the means of pro-
ducing the second bell they wanted so much.

He waited till the wheat was ripe and then
plucked the six ears on it and sowed them in
his own garden. The next year he gathered
the little crop thus produced and sowed it
again and again, till at last he had not enough
room to do so longer. Then he divided the
seed among a certain number of farmers, who
went on sowing it until, in the eighth year,
the crop was so large that when it was put
together and sold, they found that they had
money enough to buy a beautiful bell.

And there it hangs, with its story and its
birthday engraved upon it, and above the
legend a cast of the wheat stalk to which the
bell owes its existence.

—_e

A Rich Man.

A tax collector one day came to a poor
minister in order to assess the value of his
property and to determine the amount of
taxes. The minister asked the man to be
seated, which he did. Then the latter took
out his book and asked, ‘‘How much property
do you possess?”’

“‘T am a rich man,’’ answered the minister.

The official quickly sharpened his pencil
and asked intently, ‘‘ Well, what do you own?”’

The pastor replied, ‘‘I am the possessor of
a Saviour who earned for me life everlasting,
and who has prepared a place for us in the
Eternal City.’’

‘What else?’’

“T have a brave, pious wife. And Solomon
says, Who can find a virtuous woman? for her
price is far above rubies.’’

“What else?’’

‘Healthy and obedient children.’’

“What else?”’

‘A merry heart, which enables me to pass
through life joyfully.”’

“What else?’’

“That is all,’’ replied the minister.

The oflicial closed his book, arose, took his
hat, and said:

‘You are indeed a rich man, sir, but your
property is not subject to taxation.’”

_—_ so or oe

The Password.

_ In the late war between the North and the
South a young doctor, by the name of Stuart,
entered the Federal army as volunteer. One
evening he was to perform an errand outside
of the camp, and asking for the password at
headquarters, received the answer‘ ‘Chicago.’

Riding past the first sentinel he answered
the question, ‘‘Who’s there?” with ‘‘Chicago.””
The sentinel stopped him and said in a sub-
dued tone of voice: ‘Mr. Stuart, you have
not told me the password and I might shoot
you. Return immediately and ask for the
password of to-day.”

In no little agitation of mind the physician
turned his horse and rode back to the colonel,
who with horror discovered that by mistake
he had told him the password for the preced-
ing day. Stuart now returned and answered

_——s +o or oo

Be kind to the Living.

A dear mother lay dying, and her oldest
son, a3 he knelt by her bedside, cried, ‘‘You
have been a good mother to us.’’ The dying
woman opened her eyes, and with a feeble
smile whispered, ‘‘ You never said so before,
John,’ and she was gone. If we have kind
words to speak, let us speak them now, while
our loved ones are yet with us. If we have
loving deeds to do, let them be done to-day.
Flowers on coflin lids and epitaphs on tomb-
stones, bring no cheer to the living. And how
often they but contrast the more strongly with
the absence of the gifts and the kind words
while our dear ones lived. —¥. Y. EZ.