The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1898, Page 15

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

‘The Lutheran Pioneer.

“Afraid of a Shadow.” a shadow that will pass; and when it has
passed, you will see the everlasting hills in
their unclouded glory. Rest assured that
Christ is with you in the valley of the shadow
of death, and do not fear the shadow.”’

The old shepherd covered his face with his
trembling hands and for a few minutes was
silent, then letting them fall straight on the
coverlet, he said, as if musing to himself,
‘“‘Well, well, I have conned that verse a thou-
sand times among the heather on the hillside,
and I never understood it so before — afraid
of a shadow, afraid of a shadow!’’ Then,
turning upon his pastor a face bright with
joy, he exclaimed, lifting his hands reverently
to heaven, ‘‘Yes, yes, I see it all now. Death
is only a shadow with Christ behind it, a
shadow that will pass. No, no! I’m afraid
no more.’’? Then he added slowly with folded
hands: ‘‘Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for thou, dearest Saviour, art with me.’’

From the resurrection of Christ we know
that death is swallowed up in victory. They
that believe in the Saviour need not fear death.
Still some of God’s children shrink from the
thought of death, though their faith assures
them that it is but the gateway to everlasting
life and happiness. So it was with an old
Christian shepherd. He lay on his dying bed,
and when his minister came, he said to his
wife, ‘‘Jane, give the minister a chair and
leave us for a bit, for I would see the minister
alone.’’

As soon as the door was closed, he turned
his sad eyes upon the pastor and said in a
voice shaken with emotion: ‘‘Minister, I’m
dying, and—and—I’m afraid.”’

Knowing him to be a child of God, the
pastor began at once to repeat the strongest
promises of God’s word, but in the midst
of them the old shepherd stopped him, say-
ing mournfully, ‘‘I know them all, I know
them all.’’

“Do you believe them?’’ asked the pastor.

“‘With all my heart,’’ the shepherd replied
earnestly.

‘Where, then, is there any room for fear
with such a saving faith?’’

‘For all that, minister, I’m afraid.’’

The pastor took up the well-worn Bible
which lay on the bed and turned to the
23d Psalm. ‘*You remember the 23d Psalm,’’
he began.

‘Remember it!’’ the shepherd said vehe-
mently; ‘‘I knew it long before you were
born; you need not read it; I’ve conned it
a thousand times on the hillside.’’

‘But there is one verse which you have not
taken in,’’ said the pastor.

The shepherd turned upon him a half-
reproachful look.

The pastor slowly repeated the verse:
“Though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me.’’ ‘Then he added: ‘‘You have
been a shepherd all your life, and you have
watched the heavy shadows pass over the
valleys and over the hills, hiding for a little
while all the light of the sun. Did these
shadows ever frighten you?”’

‘“Frighten me?”’ the shepherd said quickly.
“No, no! A shadow could not well frighten
me.”’

“But did those shadows ever make you be-
lieve that you would not see the sun again,
that it was gone forever?”

“No, no; I could not be such a simpleton
as that.’’

‘“Nevertheless,’’ said the pastor, ‘‘that is
just what you are doing now.”” The shepherd
looked at him with incredulous eyes.

**Yes,”” the pastor continued, ‘‘the shadow
of death is over you, and it hides for a little
the Sun of righteousness, who shines all the
same behind it; but it’s only a shadow. Re-
member, that’s what the Psalmist calls it—

se or oo

He Was Silenced.

A French infidel, after much intense study,
formulated a new religion. Finding that his
new idea was not readily approved and
adopted, he complained to Talleyrand, the
statesman, of the difficulty he had in intro-
ducing it.

“Y’m. not surprised,’’ said Talleyrand; ‘‘it
is not an easy matter to introduce a new re-
ligion. But there is one thing I would ad-
vise you to do, and then perhaps you might
suceeed.”’

‘What is it? What is it?’ asked the other
with eagerness.

“It is this,’’ said Talleyrand; ‘‘go and be
crucified, then be buried, and then rise again
on the third day, and then go on working
miracles, raising the dead, and healing all
manner of diseases, and casting out devils,
and then it is possible that you might accom-
plish your end!’’ And the philosopher, crest-
fallen and confounded, went away silent.

————«@o@0 - 0 oe

“Whiter Than Snow.”

A little girl went out one day to play in
the fresh snow, and when she came in she
said, ‘‘Mamma, I could not help praying,
when I was out at play.”

‘What did you pray, dear?’’

“J prayed the snow prayer, mamma, that
I Jearned once in school: ‘Wash me, and I
shall be whiter than snow.’’’ Psalm 51, 7.

What a beautiful prayer! And here is a
precious promise to go with it: “Though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as
snow,” Isaiah 1, 18.

‘And what can wash away sin? The Bible
answers:

“They haye washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb,”’ Rev.

8, 14.

How a Heathen Put a Christian to Shame.

The captain of an English war vessel once
invited the Queen of Tahiti, and her train,
on board the ship, and gave a feast in their
honor. The most sumptuous repast had been
prepared and the captain without any further
ceremony invited his guests to partake of it.
But to his surprise none responded. He then
turned to Missionary Pritchard, who had also
been invited, and said: ‘‘Dear friend, I see
that I have failed to suit the tastes of my
guests, notwithstanding my earnest efforts,
for the Queen looks about as if the chief thing
were missing.’’

The missionary smiled and said: ‘‘You ate
right, captain. The chief thing is missing.
Your table is indeed loaded with the choicest
food, but you forgot to give thanks, and with-
out this my spiritual children, as you see them
here, will touch nothing. They hold fast to
the apostle’s word, ‘Whether ye eat or drink
or whatever ye do, do it all to the glory of
God.’’’ With considerable embarrassment
the captain asked the missionary to offer
thanks, and as he spoke the words, ‘‘All eyes
wait upon Thee and Thou givest them their
meat in due season,’’ etc., the guests joined
in, and when the ‘‘amen’’ was spoken, they
partook of the bounteous repast.

The Just for the Unjust.

A poor old colored woman was once spoken
to by a skeptic in the following way: ‘‘Well,
Betty, and so you are one of the saints, are
you? Pray, what sort of folks are they, and
what do you know about religion, eh?’’

‘‘Well, well,’’ replied the dear old creature,
‘vou know, sir, I’m no scholar, so can’t say
much for the meaning of it; I only know I am
‘saved by grace,’ and that’s enough to make
me happy here, and I expect to go to heaven
by and by.’’

“But surely you can tell us something
nearer than that? What does being saved
feel like?’’

“Why, it feels to me,’’ said Betty, ‘‘just
as if the Lord stood in my shoes, and I stood
in His’n !??

Happy old Betty! She was right. ‘‘Christ
suffered, the just for the unjust, that He
might bring us to God,’’ 1 Pet. 3, 18.

————. ~ oo a

God Speaks in the Bible.

Luther says: ‘‘When Moses writes that in
six days God made heayen and earth and all
that is in them, let it stand that it is six days
and make no gloss that would represent six
days to be one day. If you can not under-
stand how it could be six days, give the Holy
Spirit the honor to believe that He is more
learned than you, for you must in dealing
with the Scriptures always keep in mind that
it is God who speaks.””