The Lutheran visitor. (Columbia, S.C.) 1869-1904, November 03, 1871, Image 1
ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTI8M”—EPHE8IAN8 IV: 5.
COLUMBIA. S. C„ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1871
OLD SERIES, VOL. V-NO. 165
tbe spiritual nature of man is to be
pun tied before be cau enter heaven.
For the Word ot God declares that
heaven is a place of such immacu
late purity, that nothing that in any
wise defileth, or rnaketh unclean,
cau possibly enter therein. Aud as
the spiritual nature of man is natu
rally impure, by reason of his being
conceived and bora iu sin, it follows,
as a thing of course, that, by some
process, his uature must be purified
of siu before he cau enter heaven.
Rev. viii: ft—‘‘After this I beheld,
and lo, a great multitude, which uo
man could number, of all nations,
aud kindred, aud people, aud tougues,
stood before the throue, aud before
the Lamb, clothed with white robes,
and palms iu their bauds.'' viii: Id,
14, 15—“And oue of the elders an
swered, saying unto me, What are
these which are arrayed in white
robes T and whence come they f
Aud 1 said uuto him, Sir, thou
kuowest. Aud he said to me, These
are they tchich came oat of great trlba
lotion, aud have washed their robes,
aud made them white in the blood of
the Lamb. Therefore are they before
the throne of God, aud serve him
day aud night iu his temple." How
anxious, therefore, should those be,
who, professing to be the sons and
daughters of God, Aud themselves
scarcely ever, and tbeu but little,
exercised with affliction, lest that
being wanted to them, which, as we
have seeu, is so iudisjieosahly neces
sary to all that are saved, they
awake at last, but wheu too late, to
the consciousness of t he terrible fact
that tkeg are mot prepared for heav
en.
We readily acknowledge that it
may not be necessary for all to suffer
affliction to the same degree of iu
tensity, or to the same extent. Rut
tckg it is that one escapes com para
tively m easy, and another is obliged
to suffer so long, and so iutensely,
belongs to the secret counsels of
God, and, therefore, is uot for us to
know. Still, of this we may be
assured, (for the voice of iuspirution
hath spoken it,) "affliction coiueth
not forth of the dust, neither doth
trouble spriug out of the ground.*’
“Not from releutle«M fate’* dark wotuls
Or from the dust our troubles come.
No fickle chance presides o’er grief.
To cause the pain, or send relief.
“Look up and see, ye sorrowing saints!
The causa and cure of rour complaints;
Know, 'tisyour kenrenly Father a trill:
Rid every murmur then be still.**
Yes, thanks unto God, affliction
springeth not from the dust, and is
not under* the control and direction
of blind chance, or dark fate, hut is
uuder the direct coutrol of our
Fatbcf in heaven. The darling at
tribute of Gdd is mercy ; aud since
he takes uo delight iu seeing his
people suffer, it must be that he
afflicts them only because he knows
that affliction is indispensably ueces-
sary to their welfare.
“He sees we meet! the painful yoke,
Yet love directs his heaviest stroke.
He takes uo pleasure in our smart.
Rut wounds to heal and cheer the heart.
“Blest trials those that cleanse from sin.
And make the soul all pure within,
Wean the fond mind from earthly toys.
To seek and taste celestial joys."
Aud however severe and loug con
tinued the sufferings of the child of
God may prove, they are not greater
than is necessary for the-accomplish
ing of the purpose for. which fhey
are sent npou him. Regarding* the
difference in the amount of afflictiou
experienced by the children of God,
it is, quite probably, in the kingdom
of grace as it is in that of nature.
There are ^many kinds of wood of
which utensils are mude; but whilst
some are so smooth and straight
grained* that they are easily wrought
as desired, others are so crooked
grained, tough and knotty that they
require an infinite amount of cuttiug,
planing and smoothiug ere they can
be manufactured into serviceable
vessels. So, figuratively-, is it the
case in the kingdom of grace : some
natures are naturally so much more
perverse and spiritually crooked and
knotty than others, that they require
a much greater amount of affliction
to make them “vessels of mercy,
afore prepared unto glory.*
Moranef, tin* child ■ > »)od hil
the comforting
Saviour that he is not required to
Christ
Nor will your afflicts mi ever be
permitted to be greater than you
will be able to bear. The sustaining
grace of God will ever be sufficient
for thee. Wheu l*aul thrice be
sought the Lord that the thorn iu
hit flesh wight bt suffered to depart
from him, whilst his petitiou was
dented him, it was still answered
him, “My grace is sufficieut for
thee." And these comforting and
cheering words.that were so gra
cioualy vouch safed to l’aul, weft
equally intruded with him fur the
encouragement of every afflicted
child of God.
"When through Her) trials thy pathway
shall lie,
My grace, all aaftcint, ahull he thy supply.
The (tame* shall not hurt tW.li only
tlraijni ' „ *
Thy dross to ronauiur aud thy irutd la
ratine."
The effect of afflictiou respecting
the Christian’s condition, is to make
it a sad aud sorrowful one; yet, in
this very res|MM*t, there is a gain
unto him, for, as the wise mao says,
borrow la better than laughter: for
by the aadueas of the eounteuaucr
the hmit is mode better* In betug
rendered sad and sorrowful through
abounding afflictiou, the chriatiau is
only being made iu this re*|«-cC like
uuto his Lord aud Saviour, his great
exemplar, lie was peculiarly a man
of sorrows, ami acquainted with
grief; ami if the child of God would
be transplanted into his likeness
above, be must first bear bis image
here below.
The thought that the time allotted
to him in which to endure afflictiou
is ahort y ought to administer greatly^
to writ*, “My brethren, count it all
joy when y® fall into divers tempta
tions."
O afflicted child of God, it is also
your privilege lo glory, with BC i'aal,
in your tribulations; and with Bt.
James, to count it aU joy when you
fall into diver* tempt at ions, knotting
Uiut it is their express design to
work for you “a far more exceeding
and eternal weight uf glory .*
WKBHTKR.
the dead king were ootuqiicuou*, and
in solemn grandeur rose a stately
mausoleum over the bier. Massillon,
the great master of eloquence, as
cended the pulpit. He surveyed the
gorgeous but melancholy spectacle,
aud was impressed with a Meuse of
the omnipotence of God aud the
vauity of worldly glory. Raising
bis hands to heaven, he pronounced
iu an awe inspiring voice these
words:
“ Jfer freresy Diem seal emt grand !*
“My brethren, God alone is great P
Every one felt the force of the
soletuu declaration, aud, with one
impulse, the whole audience rose,
and turning towards the altar, rev
erently bowed.
is PUBLISHED
RY FRIDAY
Branch last summer. He took us,
we presume, for a minister, a thing
that never happened to ns before,
and began his criticisms on the mo-
oototoos sermon we had both listened
to on Sunday. We at once sospec
ted his charlatanry’, and determined
to teat him by the oue erode expert
meutum, which we have never known
to fail “Sir, will you read Hamlet's
Soliloquy for ns f “With pleasure,
sir* And he read ft, as Butler
would
The daughter of an English noble
man was brought to a knowledge of
the truth as it is in Jesus.
Her father was distracted at the
event, aud by threat*, temptations to
extravagance in dress, by reading
works of fiction, and by traveling is
foreign countries) yea by every means
in his power, he tried to divert her
mind from things unseen find eter-
ual.
But her heart was fixed. She re
solved that, by divine help, nothing
should displace her Saviour from the
center of her affections.
At last her father resolved upon
one fiual aud desperate expedient.
A large company of the nobility were
invited to his house. The drawing,
room was crowded. It was arranged
that all the daughters of the nobility
present, should entertain die com pa
uy with a worldly song accompanied
by the piano, and her father deter
mined that if his daughter refused,
she should, as far as property’ was
concerned, be rained. Bhe felt that
if she complied, she would grieve
away the Holy Spirit, and be again
entangled in the world. If she re
fused, she would lose caste and be
disgraced in society. Dreadful was
the moment!
With peaceful confidence she
awaited the arrival of her tarn to oe
copy the piano and to sing. At last
her name was called; for a moment
all were in silent suspense to aee bow
she would act.
Without hesitation she arose, and
with a calm dignified step, went to
the instrument. She spent a moment
in silent prayer, aud then with a
sweetness aud solemnity almost au
peruatural, she sang, accompanying
her voice with notes on the instru
ment, the following hymn:
ih, Strictly in Advance,
t auiimii I
: motitlis..............
, Widows of Minister*,
>gi«*l Students
rs who fail to remit at
Ion of their wiWrip-
TieletA
ill be charged per annum 3.00
qitniea are entered on the sub-
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wn who takes a paper reir-
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uibed or not—la responsible
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[ sou orders his paper discon-
Biust psy alt arrearages, or
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>nt is made, aud collect the
iy, in “loftiness of Mowed, and
Babylonish dialect." He evidently
knew am little of the meaning of that
soliloquy a* a Patagonian does of
Newton's Principle, consequently, his
reading was cm# pnrierem nihil, and
we parted In alienee.
By the way, we know pf no better
i Detraction for us than we find In
llamets Soliloquy on this very
point, and it is ooe of the beet lee
tares on oratorical delivery ever
written. Meanwhile, let students
and young ministers aim at the high
eat excelleocy in t|leaking. Bat let
no aspirant of the pulpit do this for
the sake of being eloqoeut, or se
ennng a reputation for oratory, bat
for the power for good there is in
true eloquence. Above all seek wia
dom, which is from above, so that
there may be in the utterances of the
(rath, the power of the Holy Ghost.
There is in this gift an inspiration
which no art can furnish, which
I raoia and Melpomene never felt;
it is the inspiration of the Holy
Ghost. This is the nerve, the power,
the son! of the true chnatian orator.
And it is a power human, and kindly,
and sanctified. The minister, with
the love of Jeans in his heart, goes
with the measage of salvation to the
last, and with Ups touched with lire
from heaven, speaks in the demon
stration of the spirit and ot power ;
a power, great in ita very rest, which,
like E ijah’s prayer, cleaves the skies,
and draws down fire from above.
Hi whose bum
are stirr’d
The .V. K. Observer, in a recent edi
torial, calls the attention uf the
church to this subject. The opening
sentence is the key note to all that
follows: “In every theological semi
nary there should be one professor at
least, who knows how to preach, and
can show the students how."
The writer assumes, what few, if
any, will dray, that in moat of oar
seminaries. the art of elocntioo is
either wholly overlooked, or is not
taught as it should be. True, there
is n department of sacred rhetoric,
the depths of the spirit
A ftenon* Subject.
Never laugh at religion. Never
make a jest of sacred things. Never
mock those who are serums and in
earnest about their souls. The time
may come wheu you will count those
happy whom you laughed at—a
time wheu your laughter will be
turned into sorrow , and your mock
ery iuto heaviness. Whatever you
please to laugh at, don’t laugh at
religiou.
Contempt of holy tliiugs is the
high road to iuftdclity. Once let a
man begin to make a jest and joke
of any part of Christianity, aud 1 am
never surprised to hear that he has
turned out a down-right believer.
Have you really made np your
mind to this f . Have you fairly
looked mto the gulf which is before
you, if you persist in despising re
ligion f Call to mind the words of
Davhl: “The fool hath said in his
heart, there is no God." The fool,
and none but the fool! He has
said it, but he has never proved it 1
Remember, if ever there was a book
which has been proved true from
beginning to end, by every kind of
evidence, that book is the Bible,
it has defied the attacks of all ene
mies and fault-finders. “The word
of the Lord is iudeed tried." It has
been tried in every way, and the
more evidently has it been shown
to, be the very handiwork of God
himself.
Matthew Henry tells a story of a
great statesman in Queen Elizabeth's
time, who retired from public life io
his latter days and gave himself up
to serious thought. His former gay
companions came to visit him, and
told him be was becoming melan
choly. “No," he replied, “I am seri
ous ; for all are serious round about
me. God is serious in observing us,
Christ is serious in interceding for
us, the Spirit is serious in striving
with us, the truths of God are seri
ous, our spiritual enemies are serious
in their eudeavors to ruin ns, and
why then should not you and I be
serious too!" Dont laugh at re-
ligioo.
Vilumbia as font
Say* and Saturdi
IB, Vice-Preside,
.Ticket Agt
A. R. RUDE, D.D..
< olumbio, 8. C.
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Religious
F^r the Lutheran Visitor.
the Design of Affliction.
3 * \
ff L mrnoammm L
u Sweet are the uses of adversity,"
has been Raid, or sung. Ad vend
or affliction, properly endured,
salts most gloriously, for it is the
rpose,tiiJ or design of affliction
work out for the child of God
nalffory and happiness, as testi
0 the apostle, 2 Cor, xvti: 18—
'or our light affliction, which is
it lor s moment, worketh for us a
•• wore exceeding aud eternal
aght of glory; while we look not
the things which are seen, but at
e> things which are sot seeu : for
b things which are seeu are tern-
ral; hot the things which are uot
W are etetn.iL" Affliction is God's
icible, in which he separates the
of sin from the* souls of his
bpi e. Sin is of such a nature, and
pares so closely to tb-- soul, that
si process less severe than by
jt of afflictipu can it |>e separated
kn the soul. It is foil’s chosen
T { |
tkod by which he pur; es aud puri-
j the souls of his peop o from sin ;
!i. therefore, it is the best possible
NOTICE
ing art. The stodeut is thoroughly
induct misled in biblical theology,
and denominational polemics and
church polity ; be is drilled, it may
hr, in all the prerequisite* of oratory
—furnished with something to say,
but is not taught hose to say it.
He is told, perhaps, that next to hav
ing something to say, he most be
thoroughly possessed of his subject,
and feel it throbbing in his eonl. He
most be frenzied Lear, maddened by
the ingratitude of his daughters; or
like the thoughtful Hamlet, shaken
iu spirit by his mother's crime aud
troahled by his father's ghost. You,
the professor tells the student*, quo
ting from Horace’s An* 1‘oeitca, hi
vis nte Here, doleodum rst primmm tpst
<ih if you wish me to weep, yon
must weep first yourself. This is nil
very well, aa far as it goes, but why
not quote the other port of that fa
moufl verse from Horace f Mole si
DRY GOODS!
umnUng to $20 and
i* any Tart of
tntry
ess Charges.
STEEL ft S0N8,
ORE, MD.,'
to meet the want*
says, “For our light afflict iou,”—
light, truly, io comparison with the
magnitude of the result it works,
even “a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory"—“which is
but for a momentIn comparison
with the eternity of the glory that
the afflictiou of the child of God
works for him, well may the apostle
say of it, that it i* “but for a mo
ment." For, what are three soon*
years—the allotted time of life to
the longest period of
For worldly hope or worldly fear.
If life so soon is gone!
If now the Judge is at the door,
And all mankind mast stand before
The inexorable throne.
No matter which my thoughts employ.
A moment V misery or joy;
Bat, oh, when both shall end.
Where shall I find my destined place f
Shall I my everlasting days,
With fiends, or angels, spend ?
Nothing is worth a thought beneath,
Bat how I may escape the death
That never, never dies? *
How make mine own election sure.
And when I fall an earth, secure
A mansion in the aides ?
Jesus, vouchsafe a pitying ray.
Be thou my guide, be thou my stay,
To glorious happiness;
Oh write thy pardon on my heart.
And whensoe'er I hence depart.
Let me depart in peace!
The minstrel ceased. Tke sotem
nity of eternity overshadowed the
assembly. They dispersed in silence,
the father wept aloud. He sought
the instructions and prayers of His
dear child. His soul was saved, and
his estates were consecrated to
Christ.—American Messenger.
cation, promptly send
Samples of the New-
ihionable Goo Is. of
nd Domestic Mann
er at all times to sell
prices, than auy house
from the largest and
lauufacturers in the
Inrope, and importing
r»direct to Baltimore,
times promptly sup-
Few pulpu orator* ever itusstweed
ao marvelous a power over their
auditor* as Massillon.
man—or even
existence reached by mau, to eterni
Ij 1 The Bible ever views human
existence :*s being very brief in dura
tion. It represeuta ft under such
images as these: the dew, the morn
ing vapor, that ap|»eareth tor a mo
ment on the mountain’s top, but
quickly diaapiMNU* before the rising
sun; the grass, which groweth up
in the morning, hut in the evening
in cut down and witbereth; the
flower, which today in, but to mor
row is not.
But the thought that ought to
afford the christlau the most en
It is related
of him that he ooce preached a
sermon on the small number of the
elect in the grand old church at Bt.
Ku star he, when the audience be
cause so excited that they rose in a
body, and stood as though transfixed
with terror, expecting the tramp of
the arhsngel to sound.
Massillon sometimes preached be
fore the spleudid oouit of France,
when bwln the Great wan at the
On such an
n Malacbi, iii j 1-3, if is written :
*old, I will -ienti ui^r messenger,
I ke shall prepare tha way before
: and the Lord, whom ye seek,
II suddenly come to his temple,
|h the messenger of the covenant
Mi ye .delight iu j £ . behold, he
II come, saith the Lord of hosts,
t rho may abide th(e day of his
fi ig t and whq shall stand when
|ippeareth! for ^ie is tike a
p fire, and like fullers’ soap.
P he shall sit as i refiner and
Uer of silver: and he shall puri-
hfe sons of Leyi, an J purge them
g)ld and silver, ^ ^ they may
zenith of his
occasion, the subject of the disoourne
being “The foming of Christ," the
king went to him at the dose of the
nermofi ami naid: “I bare listened
to many orator*, and have been
satisfied with them; you are the
firm orator that has made me dis
satisfied with myself."
Massillon pronounced the fuueral
orations of the Frince of Conti, the
Dauphin, and the king. A writer
thus describee the effect of a single
sentence spoken by the great orator
at the funeral of the king:
The reign ot Louis XIV. was oue
of the moat magnificent of the old
nyime of France. He aat upon the
throne seventy two years. The na
tion made rapid strides in power
and military glory
! Think of This!!
cess!!! 30,000
[istory of the Fran co
nst 60 days. It now
rv of the Red Rebel-
>K nearly 800
trations, and wulsell
a heretofore. Price.
fte work*, written m
rish and French, are
Let us not lots* sight of it. Every
step that we take towards the real
doing of our work is not for ous-
selves, but it is tor God. Every
chapter of the Scripture read, every
hymu sung, every lesson studied, is
for God's glory. When we ofter Him
our prayers, every word w$ ask Him
is that He may be honored in fulfill
ing our requests.
is it not serious business thus to
be working for God f Yes; and it is
delightful business. If God's glory*
is the mainspring of oar thoughts
aud our work, our labor is easy.
Duties may crown upon ns, bat God
helps us to perform them. Discour
agements may be in the way, bnt we
know He can remove them. The
delight of “pressing on toward the
mark" is more than the hardship of
the w ork.
Lift np your head, teacher! Your
salvation draweth nigh. Be of good
cheer, weary scholar! See the glory
of God in that lesson which seems
so difficult, and it becomes easy and
foil of pleasure. God's glory is a
wonderful thing. It cheers us when
we come together. It comes into
ing natural. But they* should re
member that art is a hand maid to
nature, and oratory second to rbeto
ric, and hence there can hardly be
too much practice upon the rales of
oratory. The true end of art is to
perfect nature, as Shakespeare has
it—
“This is an sri
Which dor* mend nature—ehanjrr it fath
er; but
The art itself is nature."
Bo that the difference tie tween the ora
tor of art and the orator of nature, is
like thst between the rose that is
reared under the culture of the hor
ticulturist aud the wild rose of the
mountains. The rose of the gardeu
is quite as uatural as that of the
woods and far more beautifol.
Out object now, however, is not to
discuss the subject, but simply to call
the atention of the students and our
seminaries to it. It is a fact, as the
Observer says, “that what the pulpit
wants is preaching, and what the
seminaries do not teach, is the art of
speaking. • * • • The pul
pit is not half as efficient for good,
as it would be if ministers were all
prophets, with gifts of eloquence as
well as grace."
What we need is not an itinerant
elocutionist, to give a few lessons on
the use of the hand and the moduli*
tkm of the voice. You might as well
attempt to teach a child filial rever
ence, by teaching him the most gen
teel way of taking off his hat, as to
teach the troe art of speaking in a
few lessons on gesticulation, and
some crude exercises of the voice, in
what Bronson styles the at rotundnm,
and the guttural, and aftia»u jwrtpru
Immense stand
ing armies over awed not only the
people of France, bnt the whole of
continental Europe. Learning and
literature flourished, for the king
was the ]>atron of men of talent, and
was ambitions to embellish his reign
with works of genius. Art was en
couraged. Palaces rose rivaling in
gnuideur the auperb structures of
the Orient. More thau two hundred
million of dollars were expended on
the siugle palace of Versailles. The
saloons of the Tuileriea, Versailles,
Louvre and Marly, glittering with
obsequious courtiers and spectacular
embellishment, were the scene of
uuparalleled pomp and luxury. The
power of the monarch was absolute:
he lived in the senith of the “golden
age of kiugs."
True justice was unknown; the
rights of the poor were utterly ig
nored, and meu were exiled aud
slaughtered for their religious opin
ions; but historians speak of this
period of Freuch history as one of
worldly splendor, aud Louis XIV.
obtained the title of the Great.
Louis the Great died an unhappy
death. The funeral services of the
departed monarch were most im
posing. The chapel was draped io
black, and in the dim light sat the
most illustrious persons of the king
dom. Trophies of the greatness of
ix fottndby
IN - 1837- Sapper
*8, ffchools, &c.,i»ade
ETAD-Coppe r S
l B0V?DX0T4*Z
eet, Cincinnati, v-
23—iy
|*een written, it is
|hat the design of
j? less than to pre-
f God. for eternal
>ry ; itr icorkcth for
*e exceeding and
glory * Aud not
isolute necessity of
enduring affliction
*>-by the Apostle
j» chapter of his
pmaus t, “My son,
ithc cbfafcuiui? of
in Prices.
asrapuS
life
DREENFlfXl)
STEVENS,
isstiruuci
endure his
has promised to be with him in his
troubles, and to own them to his
good. Hear the gracious words, O
afflicted child of God, aud be com
forted by them.
“When though the deep water* 1 call
thee to go,
The rivers of eorrow shall uot thee o’er-
flow:
For J will be tcith thee, thy troubles to
bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress."
IRE. Md
rooms* No.
“A person converted in yonth,”
says John Angell James, “is like
the son rising on a summer’s morn,
ing to shine through the loug, bright
day. Bnt a jiereon converted late
un life is like the eveniug star, a
ovely object of Christian contempla
tion, but not appearing till tke day
is closing, and the* but for a little
while."
My Cbosb.—I will take up my
cross. I will love my esses, 1 will
bear my cross, I will embrace ay
orosa, yet I will not adore my cross.
All knees should bow in revereucc
to my Saviour’s name, never in idei-