The Lutheran visitor. (Columbia, S.C.) 1869-1904, July 10, 1874, Image 1
Oil LOHD. 0V1 FAITH, OXE tAPTISlL’ , ~EPHESIAHS XV:6
Terms: $2.00 a Tear
i Drehet; Editors.
CHARLESTON. S. C., FltBUY, JULY 10, 1874
attend tin* llritiuijtitt, „i,,j
Freeby toriaii Sabbath
Hi ere are two English Lutherans
It) 111** AulHirlMof tb« town who bold
their membership at Bet bait;
We made several efforts to coo
verse tu l.lvi rwao, a^WEl etmm mtteli
(Sattered when a German lady asked
if we were from Germany.
One Latbeean in connection wish
the Preebyteriaa Church urged that
we begin Latbormn worship In the
loon ««a j'lLmirt nsul anfinoaeiII f rk-SuJfe Ibitue
(Own Hi ll»WT| Wffel l«p|nwrtl pw
God.” I Kings v
hole u.uj' m a
Original.
tonee of hie voice would be oo such
an occasion, giving answer to such
a question. “JAr most important
thought that ny occupied nty wind™
enhl be, u imi that of iny i n*Hpi<tuni
rtsyonmlnlity to God upon which,
for twenty minutes, be spoke to them
them, and when be had finished, he
got np from the table and retired to
bis room, sod they, without a word,
went into an adjacent parlor; and
when they had gathered together,
them, tome of them exclaimed:
“Who ever beard anything like
tuatr What Mr. Webster said in
advocacy of his sabUme thought I
do not know—-no oue has ever re
peated it, and 1 presume uo one can.
JUcfmaaiblalamtoGod.
For what I sag sad do,
1 thank Him for His holy Word,
BeHere It to be true, ^ "
weakness and Ui const aw* ; and not
withstanding oar waywardness and
forgetfulness of him, he bears us os
3c*;cu;i*3.
Would you be quiet nod have
peace in troublous times f Keep
near to God; beware of*anything
that may interpose betwixt you and
your confidence. “It is good for
me,” said the Psalmist, “to be nesr
God ;* not only to draw uear, bat to
keep near, to cleave to him, and
dwell in.him; so the word imports.
Oh, the sweet calm of such a sou)
amidst all storms f That, once trash
ing and fixed, then no more fear;
“be is not afraid of evil tidings.”
Whatsoever sound is terrible in
For the Lutheran Vial lor.
Oor 7Wt % to Bcthaay.
jjcm, Va., June 34th, 1874.
Visitor : Xu compliance with
tntion from Bethany church,
Xdge county, Va., I visited
inrolred la perplexities, besot with
difficulties and assaulted with temp
rations, how I Aspiring with comfort
Is the thought that God la present
with as and still ceres (or us; that
he scespls and loves us, aotwith
fbi* point is five milea from Lex
| iggliou, ami on the west bank of
ifjjth basement, ami a membership
Ip 30 or 40. They have been for
S gemal years without a pastor, the
of the Virgiuia Synod sup-
' plying them with the word and sac
mments occasionally. This people,
Itrlbnugh isolated so far as Lntheran
bn is concerned, have very credit-
si^ sustained thems^ves agaiust
(be incursions of other creeds; they
| Have, however, suffered much iu
“disking apples Tor other denomina
tion.* to pick up," aa they expressed
lit. The wonder is that they are
| art entirely absorbed. The pretiom
muting ecclesiastical element in the
county is of Scotch origin, and Frea
tatorisnism is vigorously pot for
sard in all quarters. We believe,
however, that if the work of “our
is earnestly carried forward
Spit this point we will have Fresbyts-
ficiau sympathy. We met some very
kindly disposed toward our cause.
We preached for this people oo the
- second Sabbath of June, morning
fssd evening, and were much pleased
vith the congregation, and felt
greatly strengthened in the work of
the ministry. We think they are
silling to be Aarons and Hors to
sky “workman” iu the ministry “that
seedeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth.” Just
here let ns soy that it is absolutely
necessary that a pastor hare the
“ wady, willing and continued coope
ration of his people; and though the
waiter is at the head of his people
as their pastor, yet we wuuld not
think it out of place should they
posh him occasionally, provided they
do not push him backwards.
Being informed by the people of
1 Bethany of another Lutheran point
previously unknown to us, we set
«uc for it on Monday morning. We
hare no| room for the description of
the new soues lo nature with which
we were impressed on onr journey.
Xo man can take a tonr down the
§ Valley of Virginia without feeling
the uprising in him, prompting him
to exclaim “wonderful and good is
onr God,” particularly if he visits
the Natural Bridge, which we hid
the pleasure of seeing. This is a
Brand piece of mechanism from the
plastic baud of Him who shaped all
things into existence. It spaus a
chasm of 180 feet iu depth. Through
this chasm flows “Cedar Creek.” A
vagou road crosses the bridge. As
*e stood gazing at the immense
otruetare, and called to mind the
l«u*earchable wisdom of God, how
insignificant did all human skill
appear in contrast with it f Bat to
the other Lutheran point. This is
twelve miles below Lexington, and
'•ears the name of “Lud vick’s church,”
from a number of Lutherans of that
.name. The ebnrch is a very fair
Elding; commodious and snbstan
daily bnilt, and under the control of
kttberans. As far as wc could learn,
there are only six Lutherans here.
We proposed to preach in the
*h#rcb, bnt the Lndvicks’ urged that
We preach at the boose ot their
•mther, Mrs. Henry Lndviek, a lady
h h * r »0th year. We readily con-
rented. Though with very short
®Otice, and in the middle t\f tha
that though we are oast down, He
wfl! not suffer us to be destroyed—
though tooepSsd he will net suffer us
tu be ovewoni.
When Zion languishes, how do-
lightful Is It to know that God is
still present with ns! When iniquity
•bounds end the love of many waxes
news of death, or even the sound of
the trumpet in the last judgment—
he hears all undisqitiuted. Nothing
Is unexpected. Being mice fixed ou
God, then the heart may pot eases
to itself; and suppose all things im
aginable, even the moot terrible, and
look for them—not troubled before
with dark and dismal
Methodist and a Catholic
The Valley a K. pauses thi
suburbs. It Iu also the tm
the North River canal. 1
trouble
apprehensions, but satisfied in a
quiet, unmoved expectation of the
hardest things. Whatsoever it is,
though not thought on particularly
before, yet the heart is not afraid of
the news of it, because it is “fixed,
trusting in the Lord.” Nothing can
shake that foundation, nor dissolve
thpt union—therefore no fear. Yeo,
this assurance stays the heart in alt
things, how strange and unforeseen
soever. All are foreseen to my God,
oo whom I trust—yea, are fore-con
trived and ordered by him. This is
the impregnable fortress of a soul-
all is at the disposal and command
of my God; my Father rales all—
what need I fear 1 The soul trusting
God aad Christ and eternity are
poshed out of the minds of men,
and the world absorbs the thoughts
and affections of almost all around
ua, It Is cheering to know that God
to present; that he lovee the gates
of Zkm still; that her name is stPI
graven upon the palms of his bands,
aad that her walls are aver before
for the church, We pray to he dotiv
stud from the neceneit* »*f supple-
men t in jj our salary ay teoeii i n j>, * 1
therefore earnestly recess* the Vtr-
friesd to me not long since. Her
family had attended that church for
years, not only were they regular
attendants, but, at the stated periods,
they came to its common ton table;
they were members “in good and
regular standingtheir faoes were
familiar to most of the congregation,
yet it wns “unusual” for any to speak
to them. They were strangers in
the church, though ne fault of their
own, and they fait as such.
There are many, no doubt, who
“believe in the commuuiou of aainta,”
without pausing to see whether any
particular meaning attaches to their
belief; they do not forget to nesemble
together; bat they do forget to follow
alter the “things wherewith one may
edifj another.” We may not all be
so pieced as to admonish, or exhort,
But haw appalling is this retyed
la the nabetievtag sad impenitent!
Gad has been really present with
yaw at every moment of your poet
ray ef light.
works, but we may sometimes show
them by s cordial word or two
that we remember that they are
our brethren, that we love them.
Ceremony is undoubtedly to be ob
served in this world; it is often
necessary ; but may not church mem-
make haste to communicate It to the
readers of the Vioikur, It should
have formed purl of the occurrences
connected with Cemmreormrel User
dmw, but as we felt a special laterret
In this It Is entitled to the promt
admirer of Bobert Dale Owen aad
Fanny Wright, but he could see no
beauty or excellence in the Son of
Righteousness.
This man, of course, never entered
any place of worship. Indead, in the
fruit season, be was specially busy
on the Sabbath in defending his
orchard from his great enemies, the
woodpecker and the idle, profligate
person* of the village, who, on that
day, usually made aad havoc among
his apples and peaches.
One day, while at work with his
son-in-law—an atheist like himself,
although a more kind and courteous
gentleman—ae a pastor of a congre
gation was passing, he very rudely
accosted the minister:
“Sir, what it the use of your
preaching I What good do you do
by it f Why don’t you teach there
fellows better morals f Why don’t
you tell them something about steal
ing in your sermons, and keep them
from robbing my orchard f”
To this the minister pleasantly
replied :
“My dear sir, 1 am sorry that you
are no annoyed, and I should willing
ly read the fellows who rob your
orchard a lecture on thieving, but
the truth is, they are all so like
you and the ro^for here, that I never
get a chance.”
“Good, good,” replied the major,
laughing; on which the elder atheist,
blushing a little, and in an apologct-
ical tone, said :
“Well, well I believe it is true
enough it is not the church-going
people that steal ay apples.”
During his recent visit to Salem,
Dr. Conrad made several eantribu
tion* to our various interval* here
that dear I v besiwak hie oon ft (toner in
onr efforts. These were to the fol
lowing objects in the sums stated :
Towards the Endowment of the
Chair of Moral and Intellectual
Philosophy in Roanoke College,
• 100; towards the fire proof build
Ing for Library ami Cabinet. $100;
111 Ladles? Endowment Fond, 1100.
We know that Dr. Coersd did not
suspect that this would be published
to the Church ; bat in order to pro
voke others lo a like liberality, wo
to another, even without a formal
introduction f There are few of ns
who have not an intuitive to whom
we may speak without hurting our
dignity.
That “sweeUooking old lady”
ve. D la, at say rate, aa in
re theme; /hr hmrprmiu the
fMMlgr of every ares Is God l
that the lifts of the great
•as had always here iufla
by thin important thought!
tain,” says Dr. John Hall, “that the
shaking of hands, rightly adminis
tered, is a meant of grace. So shake
band* at the market, on the street,
and, above all, at church. Some
people quit church for want of this
means of grace.” And no doubt
some have been helped in the church
by it. Frieodtiueas goes a long way
with some. With moat persons, a
kind word may strengthen “him that
is*weak in the faith.”
The heart of the writer warms while
recalling the pleasant Sabbath greet
IngeofaCfaristian family, whose gentle
courtesies were greatly instrumental
in bringiug at least one into the
visible cltarrh. The fervor awaken
ed by a sermon full of love to Christ
and good will to mao wHl not be all
cooled by a cordial word, or hand
shake, meeting oue on the way to
the doer. There should not be
strangers of “regular standing” iu
the church. Then, speak kindly
every opportunity you have; shake
hands if yon vrfll. How do yon
know which Is “the least of these f*
—vsrwwas (/orrrrrr.
These donation* were not made he-
them, but out of genuine sympathy
with ns in our work. Such catho
licity well becomes sue holding the
Doctor’s position in the Church, aad
to oar own people should have ap
peal of more than ordinary (tower.
Who will do likewise f
The contribution of $100 towards
by the travel, aad, speaking
expected, ttinely aad liberal; ua
expected, in view of the pressing
claims of Gettysburg, with which
the Doctor is so intimately connect
ed; timely, because the work Is jael
inaugurated, aad K -»* not evoked
that hearty response to which it Is
entitled ; and lifilrsl, iaasmnch as It
goes beyond what the ladies In their
SSI • ( I. .L.ll f
from thy pressman I If 1 mm»nd up
When an experienced Christian mere
ly uses his experience for his own
comfort, or as a standard by which
to judge his feUow-christians, or
make use of it for self-axaltatioo. as
though he were Infinitely superior to
the most zealous young men, such a
man man hfr( :tale&t, does mischief
with it, —4 ffuftirpf Mmsslf heavily
responsible. I beesodh you who have
long walked in the way of godliness,
to use your experience continually in
your visitation of the tick, in your
conversations with the poor, in your
meeting with young beginners, in
your dealings with backsliders; let
your paths drop fatness; let the
anointing God has given yon fell
upon those who are round about yon.
coo tit bn tors. But there la souther
use to which we would put this pleas
Ing feet. The donor is a lending
mao and representative of the Geos
ral Synod, North. By thin act bo
dearly shows his nonfidsoes in onr
Theological Seminary as now ore
stitated. There are there amongst
us who look upon it with suspicion
so being too Lutheran 1 How will
they regard this act so contrasted
with their own ooorse t It remains
for us to thank the donor for hie lib
erality, take courage in onr work, bo
tine to our responsibility in the eight
into the dim future with anxiety,
aad inquire whether they shall be
saved at last—whether they shall be
ready to meet their Lord to peace in
the great judgment day;
This is aa important question, but
there It another question far more
important, and that is, Are we saved
now t Salvation is a thing of the
present, as well as the future; it per
tains to time, as well as to eternity.
And the foture salvation only follows
wft earthly
as to that may well be concentrated
in the more argent question as to onr
present state. We may be saved to
day—saved with a great salvation,
no that we can say, he “hath saved
ns, and called us with a holy calling.”
The word of salvation “is nigh thee,
even tn thy mouth, and in thy heart,
that hi the word of feith which we
God In wsenfiUfrF FrefrMHfr , frfrfe i ’3frNfr
at all times and in all places, and had
There ere only two genuine rente
dies for sorrow—proper sod work.
Trust in benven and keep doing hi
the best receipt for every human
care. There are no wound* of the
spirit which it will not heal.
A Child’s Faith.—A woman said
one day to her child, “We have lost
dear father—what shall we dot”
“Why praise God, mother, for what
he has left”