# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1851 01 07_S79
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

79

tual eyes might have been opened, and he had recognized his misdeed! — But, alas, not so; he persisted in his sins, and became only the more hardened.

He still crept every day, after that occurrence, into the barn, though secretly, and the owner soon saw himself moved to a second accusation against him, since a large chain was missing from his wagon. But here also he denied it, as before, and added the following words as a further asseveration: "May I burn alive if I have stolen this chain."

Ah, how terribly the judgment of God which he had called down upon himself broke in upon him! A few days afterward, when he was again sleeping in the barn, the burning tobacco-pipe may have fallen into the hay in his drunken condition, and about two hours after his departure from the tavern the barn stood in full flames, and in the morning he was found almost wholly burned upon the still glowing chain which he had stolen.

May this history, and especially the dreadful, awful end of this man, serve as a warning to all those who go on in such and like sins, and have it only to thank the mercy and love of God in Christ that His judgment has not yet come upon them! "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."—

(The same.)

The End Draws Nigh.

Up, up to the last march,
Up, up to the last strife!
Drawn nigh in flight is
The last, troubled time.
The abominations are so many,
The signs are so clear:
That we are now soon at the goal,
That is assuredly true.

The end draws nigh, the end,
The last day is near.
Ah! make ready quickly,
Soon the Saviour is there;
Ah! fall at His feet, —
He will not long delay, —
And do honest penance,
And seek Him in faith.

All the signs proclaim
That Jesus is near:
Earthquake, famine, pestilence
And war and rumors of war.
The water-waves roar
With loud thunder-peal,
Mighty storms rush:
The whole universe trembles.

That knows the old dragon,
That he has but a short time;
Therefore he swears bloody vengeance
Upon the Church of Jesus Christ.
He incites by his mocking
The world without ceasing,
To root out the Church
In fierce hatred of God.

So shall it yet come to pass,
What Christ prophesied:
"Ye must go into misery
Well in the last time;
Ye must then on earth
Endure death and ban,
For my name's sake be
Hated of every man."

Yet Satan may kindle
The whole world to rage,
Hell from all its gulfs
Spew nothing but poison and fire,
Though like the sand of the sea
The devil's power be numberless:
Yet over his host prevails
The Church in God's bosom.

God has spoken a word,
That makes us all glad;
He who never broke His word,
Says to us thus:
"Upon my eternal Word
Shall my Church stand,
Despite all gates of hell
She shall not go down."

Therefore, when great torments
And bitter pains threaten us,
We are strengthened a thousand times
By the eternal Son of God.
When we despair of ourselves,
And build on Him alone:
He will bear us victorious
Through all the horror of death.

Already joyful stars beckon,
The end of our distress;
Already there shines in the distance
A lovely morning-red.
Welcome, fair morning!
Arise, O blessed light,
Since from all cares
The Lord's judgment redeems us.

Suddenly there shall be signs
In the heaven then:
The sun shall grow pale
And stand black and dark,
Like blood shall fearfully gleam
The moon on high,
The stars shall sink,
Vanishing in the fall.

When thus the lights of heaven
Are extinguished in the night:
Then comes the Judge of the world
In eternal divine splendor,
Like a bright lightning,
With all the host of angels,
On lofty seat of cloud:
Then the year of jubilee draws nigh.

O blessed rapture,
When Christ's voice calls,
To catch us up to Himself,
Transfigured through the air.
Then shall we behold Him,
And blessed stand before Him,
And with Him to the meadows
Of Paradise go.

Lord Jesus, ah! have mercy
Upon us of Thy grace
Keep us poor ones fast
On Thy narrow path,
That we may cleave to Thee faithfully
In life and in death,
And soon come to Thee,
Thou eternal, faithful God.

Hermann Fick.

A Hearty Plea.

The esteemed dear reader of the "Lutheraner" is kindly asked to read the following with sympathizing love and compassion:

Here in Detroit, where about five years ago a Lutheran congregation began to form and quickly to flourish, things now look pitiable. When the undersigned was called two months ago by the remnant of the congregation and somewhat later came into their midst as shepherd and teacher of the same, he thought of the word of Scripture: "When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them; because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." And he must still think continually of this: a scattered little flock, near to fainting, is still the little remnant that is left.

How very different it was five years ago, and for a time afterward. What hope and joy must then have moved the hearts of those who now hang their heads like a bulrush and are sorrowful. With much sacrifice and devotion to the kingdom of God they raised up at that time a brick church, such as many a congregation would only wish for. But already at its dedication the assembled congregation, which did not wish it and had no inkling of it, was thrown into a general consternation by the sudden introduction of the ceremonies of the Lutheran Church that had been customary in earlier times. Many members, whose Christian liberty was violated by such compulsion, were even then driven out of the congregation and now wander about somewhere either still, like frightened sheep, or have already been made the prey of a wolf elsewhere; as, indeed, from that time the meeting-halls of the sects began to fill. Since then there was a time of continual rending, scattering, destroying, of which one will hardly be able to form an idea. All maturer knowledge of Christianity, which he should have furthered, seemed burdensome to the unfaithful shepherd. He sought to remove the one in whom he perceived it, just as the world gladly puts out of the way a man who sharpens its conscience. To this end curse and ban helped. Any contradiction against the compulsion suffered could at once be visited with the ban, or at least in such a manner as agreed in no way with Matth. 18, 15 to 17. Thus no small number of innocent souls were in this matter delivered to Satan, and every entreaty and admonition on the part of the unhappy flock was fruitless. The consequence was that a still greater number of members, who were not banned, tore themselves loose from this cruel shepherd and fled him at the command of the LORD. These united themselves with their wrongfully banned brethren: and these poor, tormented and intimidated souls together thereupon called the undersigned to be their shepherd.

But what is it now? The damage is not thereby already healed; it rather first becomes truly manifest.