The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1902, Page 19

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 19
SSS ————————

“1 Must Have the Clock.” When he had gone, the miser returned to
the place to see whether his treasure was still
safe. To his horror he found the money gone
and the rope left in its place. His money
being dearer to him than his life and his im-
mortal soul, he took the rope and hanged him-
self on the same limb which the spendthrift
had chosen for the same purpose but a little
while before. A. B.

a oe

“Thou, God, Seest Me.’

James and Anna were at home alone. James
said to his sister, ‘‘Come, let us look for some-
thing good to eat and have our fill while we
are alone.’”? Anna said, ‘If you can show me
a place where nobody will see us, I'll go with
you.” ‘Well, then,” rejoined James, ‘‘let
us go to the milk pantry and have a dish of
sweet cream.”? Anna said, ‘That will not do,
for there the neighbor will see us from his
yard, where he is splitting wood.’’ ‘Then
we’ll go into the kitchen,” suggested James;
‘in the cupboard is a potof honey.” To this
Anna objected: ‘There the lady of next door
can see us, for she is sitting at her win-
dow.’? Then said James with some impa-
tience: ‘‘Pshaw, let us then go down into the
cellar and eat some apples. It is dark down
there, and I am sure no one will see us.”’ Said
Anna, ‘‘Oh, dear James, do you really think
that nobody will see us there? Do you know
nothing of that all-seeing Eye above us that
can pierce the walls and see into the darkest
corner?’ James was overcome with fear and
shame, and said, ‘‘You are right, dear sister,
God can see us everywhere. Let us not do
evil anywhere.’’ —Sel.

—+ +a or eo

He Laid down His Life for His Friend.

In a certain district in Russia, in a solitary
place, stands a pillar bearing the inscription:
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man Jay down his life for his friend.’? What
prompted its erection forms a touching story.

A little party was traveling through a wild
region infested with wolves. Soon a pack of
these were on the travelers’ tracks. Pistols
were fired, horse after horse was sacrificed to
the ravenous beasts, but nearer and nearer
they came, until it seemed impossible to es-
cape them. At that critical moment the serv-
ant, in spite of repeated remonstrances of his
master, leaped from the sled to be devoured
by the wolves, and to afford his master an op-
portunity of being saved. The plan succeeded.
While the hungry wolves were detained by the
sacrifice of the faithful servant, the master got
a sufficient start to reach a place of safety.

The pillar mentioned above marks the spot
where the bones of that heroic servant lay scat-
tered about when he sacrificed his own life to
save that of his friend. ,

We know, however, of a love surpassing
that. ‘'God commendeth His love toward us,
in that, while we were yet sinners’? —enemies
of God—'‘'Christ died for us.”” A. B.

Bad Wages.

A story is told of a poor colored man of
the days when opportunities for an education
were slim, who came to a watchmaker, and
gave him the two hands of a clock, saying:

“T want yer to fix up dese han’s. Dey jess
doan keep no mo’ kerec’ time for mo’ den six
munfs.’’

‘‘Where is your clock?’’ asked the watch-
maker.

“Out at my house, down on Injun Creek.”

“But I must have the clock.”

“PDidn’t I tell yer, der’s nuffin de matter
wid de clock ’ceptin’ de han’s? Dat’s why
I didn’t done brought ’em to yer. Yer jess
wants de clock so yer kin tinker wid it an’
charge me a big price. I knows yer. Gimme
back dem han’s.’’

And, taking the hands, he went off to find
some other watchmaker.

Foolish as he was, his action was much like
that of those people who try to regulate their
conduct without being made right inside.
They go wrong, but will not have it that the
trouble is with their hearts. They are positive
that it is not the clock, but the hands that are
out of order. They no more believe the need
of a change in their spiritual condition than
this poor man thought that it was the works
of his clock that needed overhauling. They
are not willing to have the Holy Ghost work
upon their hearts; and their reason for not
giving themselves into the hands of the Holy
Spirit, who alone can regenerate them and
make them capable of running in the way of
the Lord’s commandments, is very much like
the reason the colored man gave. They are
afraid the price will be too great. They say,
“We only wish to avoid this or that bad habit.’’
But God says: ‘‘My son, give me thine heart,
and let thine eyes observe my ways,’’ Prov.
28, 26. F. J. L.

———+ +o or oe

“<I left my place, mother,’’ said a poor boy
one day when he returned from his work.

‘Why did you leave it?”’ the mother asked.
‘Was your master unkind to you?”’

“No, mother, he was kind enoughb,’’ said
the boy.

“Didn’t you like the work?’’ the mother
inquired.

“Tt was the wages I didn’t like,’’ said the
boy solemnly. ‘‘My master wanted me to sin,
and the wages of sin is death.”’

His master had expected him to lie about
the goods, and deceive and cheat the cus-
tomers; but the boy said—

“No, sir, I cannot do such things; I will
leave your service first.”

And he did leave; and he was right about
it, too. Such boys will make mothers’ hearts
glad, and will find that the Lord takes care of
those who trust in Him, and will not work for
Satan, nor earn the wages of sin.

Such trials do the faithful good. It may
seem hard to suffer because we will not sin,
but the rough sea makes the sailor, the hot fur-
nace makes the pure gold, the strongest faith
comes from the hardest trials, and they who
suffer for Christ’s sake shall be blessed here
and crowned with joy hereafter. ‘‘Blessed are
ye,’”’ says Jesus, ‘‘when ye suffer for righteous-
ness’ sake.’” N. J. B.

—_ ~-o--—

Redemption.

Several persons were troubled about the
meaning of the word redemption, when some-
body explained it by offering the following
illustration : —

Coming up the street, I saw a shop with
three golden balls above it. It was a pawn-
broker’s shop. When I was yet a boy, I used
to see many people go to such shops, espe-
cially on Monday mornings. They would go
in with bundles of clothes, and come out with-
out them, but with a little money in their
pocket. On Friday or Saturday these same
people would come with a part of their week’s
wages to get back their clothes. This money
with which they buy back their clothes is
called redemption money.

By sin we had been carried into the pawn-
shop of Satan, the kingdom of darkness, and
our adversary refused to give us up, until the
redemption money was paid. Being bankrupt
as well as disabled spiritually, we had noth-
ing to pay. But Christ came to our rescue.
He bought us back. He paid the price of our
redemption to God’s offended justice. Not,
indeed, with gold and silver, but with His
holy and precious blood and with His inno-
cent sufferings and death He redeemed us lost
and condemned creatures, purchased and won
us from all sins, from death, and from the
power of the devil, that we might be His own.
A. B.

Love of Money —the Root of All Evil.

‘A miser had hoarded up a vast amount of
money. Fearing that others might learn of his
fortune, and distrusting even his own family,
he decided to put it in a place where it would
surely be safe. So one dark night he stealthily
left the house and took his money to a woods,
where he buried it at the foot of a tall tree,
covering it up with a heavy stone.

Shortly after this a profligate spendthrift,
who had gone through with all that he had had,
came to this very tree to end his miserable ex-
istence by hanging himself. When he tried to
tie the rope to the lowest limb of the tree, he
found it to be just a little beyond his reach.
Taking hold of the stone lying close by, he
tolled it over to aid him in reaching the limb.
To his great surprise and joy he noticed the
Money, which had been concealed under it.
Quickly changing his mind, he took the money,
and putting the rope in its place, covered it
up again with the stone.