The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1908, Page 37

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

37

Then the father explained to his guest: “If
death should come to my door to take away one of
my nine children” (here he took his velvet cap off
his head and threw it against the door), “I would
say to him, ‘Knave, who told you that I have one
child too many? ”

Whereupon the stranger began to see that it is
only disobedient children who make their father
miserable.

One of these seven boys who answered so bravely
became a very famous man. He was the renowned
Parson Oberlin, of Steinthal, in Alsace, Germany.

‘The family is blessed in which both parents and
children follow God’s Word, which says: “Chil-
dren, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is
right. Honor thy father and mother; which is
the first commandment with promise; that it may
be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the
earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not yeur children
to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and
admonition ‘of the Lord,’ Eph. 6, 1—4.

He Wasn’t Driving.

A father and his little son were once driving
along a familiar road with a gentle horse. To
gratify the child, the father placed the reins in
his hand, but at the same time, unseen, kept his
own hold on them. As they drove on, they saw
coming towards them, at full -speed, a runaway
team. The danger was great; but the father
guided his horse so that a collision was avoided,
and the danger was escaped. ;

When all was over, the boy looked tovhis father,
and with choked.-utterance said,.“I thought I was
driving, but I wasn’t; was I, papa?”

So, when some danger has been escaped, or
deliverance has come in some ways unforeseen and
unthought of, the child of God has occasion to say,
“Father, I thought I was driving, but I wasn’t.”

The Boy’s Farewell.

Tn an extensive coal mine in England, one day
the shaft, or entrance to the mine, gave way and
caved in, and some of the miners were buried by
ditt, while some were fastened in small chambers.
Every effort was made to dig the way open to save
the :men, but it took time, and when they were
found, they were all: dead —crushed or suffocated.

In the corner of a small room they found the
body of a boy who had a little painted tin lamp and
a rusty nail. On the lamp the boy had scratched
with the nail the following words:

“Weep not, dear mother! We sang and praised
God as long as we had breath. Mother, keep closer
to God than you have done.”

On the other side was written: “John, farewell !
Conduct yourself before God and your mother as
becomes a good boy.”

These words were the boy’s farewell to mother
and brother, and they were a comfort to the poor
sorrowing mother, who did not doubt that her boy
in his last hours rejoiced in God and put his trust
in the Savior.

Ee ee eeeas

All for the Best.

A poor colored woman was lying on a sickbed
in a hospital. She seemed to be very old. To the
young Lutheran pastor, who came to see her, she
said, “Indeed, young master, I don’t know, how
old I is.” Her friends were all dead, and for many
years she had lived with different people, “doing
little turns and nursin’ the baby, honey,” she said
to the pastor, “till I couldn’t stand on my sore leg
any longer. De bredren and sistering war very
kind, but you know, my child, dat it ain’t home to
a body no more when they can’t do nothin’.” So
she had sought a refuge in the hospital “till her
leg got strong agin.” And yet, in all her sorrows
of old age and poverty and sickness she was cheer-
ful and even happy; for she rested in the love of
her Savior and trusted in Him who doeth all things
well. - “It’s all well, honey,” she said to the pastor,
“dat is, I takes it all for well, bekase de Lord gives
me grace to believe dat what JO do is all for
de best.”

Enjoying Settled Peace.

A friend once asked the pious Prof. Francke
liow it was that he kept a constant peace of mind.
The reply was:

“By stirring up my mind a hundred times a day.
Wherever I am, whatever I do, I say, “Blessed Jesus !
I have truly a share in Thy redemption; Thou hast
forgiven my sins, and art guiding me by Thy Spirit.
Thine I am; wash me again and again.’ By this

constant converse with Jesus I enjoy secant ch

‘mind and a settled peace in my soul.”