The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1910, Page 83

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

83

they are admitted to the Lord’s Table. Thus our
church, by careful and painstaking instruction in
the Christian doctrine and by the solemn rite of
Confirmation, which follows the instruction, would
lead its members to see and appreciate the unspeak-
ably great and glorious gift Christ has bestowed
upon us in the Lord’s Supper.

May God be praised henceforth and blest forever,
Who, Himself both Gift and Giver,
With His own flesh and blood our souls doth nourish;
May they grow thereby and flourish!
: F. J. L.

sate et

Faithful.

In the year 1645, when the province of Silesia
had come under the rule of Catholic Austria, the
village of Pombsen was deprived of its Lutheran
church and school, although the inhabitants, with
only a few exceptions, were Lutherans. Soon after,
two Jesuit priests came to the village, intending to
make the Lutherans forsake the faith of their
fathers. ‘To this end the whole Lutheran congre-
gation was called to the court-room, where all day
long, with but short intermissions, the priests tried,
with sweet promises and severe threatenings, to
make them give up their Lutheran faith.

When evening came and many of the frightened
people had lost heart, an old peasant, or farmer,
fell upon his knees and began to sing the hymn:

Lord Jesus Christ, with us abide,

For round us falls the eventide;

Nor let Thy Word, that heavenly light,
For us be ever veiled in night.

In these last days of sore distress

Grant us, dear Lord, true steadfastness,
That pure we keep — till life be spent —
Thy holy Word and Sacrament.

Presently the whole congregation were on their
knees, joining in the singing of that hymn. When
the entire hymn had been sung and the people rose,
the priests were no longer to be seen. By the action
of the congregation they had been convinced that
they could not seduce these faithful Lutherans, and
had quietly sneaked away.

A Thanksgiving Lesson.

A writer in The Quiver says: “Let me tell you
how I learned a thanksgiving lesson. I at one time
felt most ill-used because a slight accident had dis-
abled my right hand. Taking a walk through the
crowded streets, I met one man with a leg missing,

another with but one arm, a blind woman, a girl
with her face terribly disfigured, two deaf and dumb
men, an old man with a ‘churchyard cough, two
funerals, and a van of prisoners on their way to jail.
Having passed these and come to a lunatic asylum,
I made up my mind that I should be very thankful
that I was not as badly off as thousands of more
deserving people.”

a ee

A Thankful Heart.

It was a Christian with a thankful heart who
in his old age wrote in a letter to a friend: —

“T am without many things that I could desire,
but I have a thousand mercies beyond what I dé-
serve. Many things have come to pass otherwise
than I could wish, but the Lord hath not dealt with
me after my sins, nor rewarded me according to my
iniquities. I have been disappointed in many a hope
and expectation, but in this will I rejoice — God is
the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
I have met with losses, but I have through the Gospel
a portion which can never be taken away.”

Such a way of estimating things keeps the heart
always thankful and makes every day a Thanks-
giving Day. ;

Christ’s Divine Power.

He who multiplied the five loaves is He who
multiplies the seeds that grow in the earth, so that
barns are at last filled by them. But because He —
does this every year no one marvels. Men marvel
not at what is greater, but at what is rare. For
who is He that even now feeds the whole world
but He that of a few grains creates whole harvests?
Christ wrought, therefore, as God. The power was
in His hands; but those five loaves were as seed,
not indeed committed to the earth, but multiplied
by Him who made the earth. — St. Augustine.

The Master-Cultivator.

God is the right Master-Cultivator, who culti-
yates the land much more and much better than the
farmer does. The farmer does nothing more to it
than break up the ground, and plow, and sow, and
lets it lie; but God must be always attending to it
with rain and heat, and must do everything to
make it grow and prosper, while the farmer lies at
home and sleeps. — Luther.