The Lutheran visitor. (Columbia, S.C.) 1869-1904, January 09, 1902, Image 6
THE LUTHERAN VISITOR
January g. 1902
BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.
If you've a Kmv-haired mother
lu the old home far away,
Sit. down and write the letter
You put off day by day.
Don’t wait until her tired etepe
Reaoh Heaveu'e pearly Kate,
But ehow her that you think of her
Before it i» too latet
If you've a tender meeraKe
Or a ioviuK word to May,
Don't wait till you forKet If,
But whleper it today.
Who kuowe what bitter memoriee
May haunt you if you wait,
So make your loved onen happy
Before it Im too late.
We live but in the preoeut.
The future la unknown;
Tomorrow in a mystery.
Today ie all our own.
The chance that fortune lends to us
May vanish while we wait,
So spend your life’s rich treasure
Before it is t oo late.
The tender words unspoken,
Tile letters never sent,
The Iouk forgotten messaKes,
The wealth of love unspent,—
For these some hearts are breaking.
For these some loved ones wait;
So show them that yon care for them
Before it is too late.
THE SIEGING COBBLER OF HAM
BURG
While crowds of people were
passitiK through the streets 'of
Hamburg one fine summer’s
evening, on their way to hear
the music in Altona, a shoe
maker, sitting under a shade be
fore his shop door, was busily
engaged with a shoe. He rested
from his work, singing one of
the most beautiful psalms in old
German, scarcely lifting his eyes
from the role, which occupied
his whole attention, and quite
indifferent to the crowd that
passed before him, when a young
man stopped suddenly and ad
dressed him:
“Well, my friend, you seem
quite happy and contented!”
The speaker was a student.
His marked features, his black
eyes, his high nose and his dark
complexion showed that he be
longed to the Hebrew race. The
cobbler lifted his eyes and an
swered cheerfully:
“Happy and contented I am,
in truth, sir; why should I not
be so?”
“Idon’t know; hut all are not
as you. Your poverty might dis
tress you. I suppose you have
only to provide for yourself?”
“You are mistaken there, sir,”
he answered; “I "have to feed a
wife and seven children with the
work of these hands. I am a
poor man, it is true; but lean
sing and do my work.”
“I must confess,” said the
young man, “that I am Very
much surprised to see a poor fel
low like you so contented.
“Stranger,” said the cobbler,
putting down his work and tak
ing hold of his arm with a seri
ous expression* “I am not so
poor as you think. I am the son
of a King.”
The student turned his head
and went away, saying to him
self: “The poor man is evident
ly mad! It is his madness that
makes him so happy. I thought
I should hear from him. the se
cret of his happiness, hut I have
lost my time.”
A week passed by and the stu
dent, again having occasion to
pass down the same street, found
the cobbler sitting in the same
place, singing as cheerfully as
before. The young man, in pass
ing, lifted his^ap with a sneering
salutation, exclaiming: ‘‘Good
morning, Mr. Prince.!’
“Stop, my friend,” said the
cobbler, putting down his work;
“a word of explanation, if you
please. You only' left me so
suddenly the other evening be
cause you thought I was mad.”
“I must say I believed it,” an
swered the other.
“Well, my friend. 1 am not
mad. What I said I said in ear
nest. I am a son of the King.
Would you like to hear a song
on my royalty? 1 will just sing
one.”
The young man did not doubt
that to accept the offer would
afford him some amusement and
great satisfaction to the poor
man, and he therefore asked him
to sing. The cobbler began to
sing a hymn on this verse: “Thy
kingdom come.” When he fin
ished he asked the young man if
he understood it; but beseemed
still to he under his old - impres
sion.
“I must then,” said the cob
bler, “explain to you in detail
concerning the kingdom of
Christ and the glory of the
king.”
He began, then, with the
divine promise made in the be
ginning, at the banishment from
paradise, that the seed of the
woman should bruise the head
of the serpent. He showed him
this promise, increasing in light
from age to age throughout the
prophecies, revealing always
with clearer evidence, the Re
deemer’s kingdom. He showed
him how all things that are
written in the law of Moses, in
the Prophets and in the Psalms,
about Jesus Christ, have been
fulfilled; how it hehooyed Christ
to suffer these things, and enter
into glory; how all power in
heaven and earth was com
mitted to him, and how he actu
ally established a kingdom
which shall never be destroyed,
and uniting in holy fellowship
Jews and Gentiles. And with
eyes glistening with hope and
love, he showed theyoung man,
in language which the depth of
his feelings made eloquent, how
the subject of this glorious king
dom is a child of God, an heir, a
joint-heir with Christ, the king,
and how-he shall reign with him
forever and ever.
“Now,” said the cobbler, tak
ing the hand of the young Jew
ish student who sat beside him,
and whose whole mind was
filled with things he had heard
for the first time in his life,
about the old promises made to
his forefathers. “Now, young
man, don’t you see how I could
say, ‘I am a son of the King,’
and why I am so happy and
contented? It is because I know
Jesus. I believe in him and I
love him. And it is the sacred
Scriptures which tell me that all
things are mine, whether life,
or death, or things present, or
things to come; all are mine, be
cause I am Christ’s.”
Then, looking the young Is
raelite in the face, the old Chris
tian said:
“Believest thou the prophets?
I know that thou dost; because
I see by thy features that thou
descendest from those who be
lieve in the prophetfc. You must
believe in him about whom the
prophets have spoken.”
The young man listened in
silence. St range thoughts crossed
his mind. At length he timid
ly asked this question:
“Where may I learn more of
those things, because I see that
you believe and that you have
ppace? Oh, that I might have
it also! for as yet I do not possess
it.” ’
“Here,” said the old man,
handing him a volume of the
holy Scriptures. “This book you
must read attentively at home;
and whilst you battle with tjie
enemies of your soul, I shall, as
Moses on the mount, pray for
you without ceasing, and you
shall also ask somebody to pray
for yoQ; somebody whom you
don’t know yet, but who knows
you and who is greater than
Moses, who is above all.”
The young Jew took the book,
and, pressing with gratitude the
old man’s hand, took off his cap
and saluted him with respect.
“Oh, that the Lord Jesus,”
said the old man, lifting his eyes
toward heaven and taking to his
work again, “may also graft
this one in his own olive tree!”
The story does not end here.
The old shoemaker’s prayer was
heard.
The young Jew was converted
to Christ, and has since distin
guished himself by his zeal and
success as a missiqnary among
his own people.—Selected.
s.'ynti
HOW TO MANAGE THE IRREPRES
SIBLE BOY
A writer I like for her earnest
ness tells the mother'always to-
keep a smile and a kiss for her
boy. He may be anything but a
model boy; he may he thought
less and disobedient—but let
him fee! that he has an unfailing
friend in his mother.
Trust your boy. If he knows
you have faith in him, it will
prove a barrier to many a
wrong doer. He may disappoint
your trust. Try him again, and
again. Let him know that by
gones are by gones and give him
your love as a corner stone for
building anew.
Don’t give him too much reli
gion. Extremes meet. If you
hold the reins too tight there
will be a reaction. Teech him
the love and sympathy and help
fulness of Christ, but let your
teaching be sunshiny.
And please don’t nag him. If
there is any one course that is
more wearing to a disposition
than to be always “picking at”
one and throwing up past errors,
then I don’t know what it is.
Would a tree ever take firm root
and grow straight if, after plant
ing it, you went every little
while and gave it a twist? A little
lecture privately administered
will do more good than a half
dozen daily naggings.
Be a companion for your boy.
He needs your society more dur
ing boyhood than he did when
he was in the nursery. Win his
confidence and have him open
his heart to you. You will be
richly repaid.
-r —
When you have done the best
you can do then trustjn God for
the rest; but do not fall into the
mistake of expecting him to
make up for the cohsequences
of your indifference or neglect.
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