Pine Needles Part 28

"The Bible says, '_Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do_,'" Mr.

Murray answered. "In another place, '_Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed_.'"

"Well, Mr. Murray, I don't understand it; take eating and drinking--how can that be done to the glory of G.o.d?"

"You can easily see how it can be done _not_ to His glory. Any way that is not becoming His servant is not to His glory. Therefore, in excess--of things that do not agree with you and therefore unfit you for duty--of costly dishes, which take the money that might feed starving people."

"But I can't feed all the starving people!" said Flora.

"It is something to feed one. But I will give you another Bible mark, Miss Flora, '_He that saith he abideth in Him_,' that is, in Christ, '_ought himself also to walk even as He walked.'_ Now remember how Christ walked. He was here, '_as one that serveth_.' He '_went about doing good_.' He '_pleased not Himself_.' He '_did always those things that please' G.o.d_."

"But one can't be like _Him_," said Esther.

"That depends entirely upon whether you choose to be like Him."

"O Uncle Eden! He was"----

"Yes, I know, and I know what you are, and I, and all of us. It remains true,--'G.o.d is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellows.h.i.+p of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord;'--'chosen, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.'"

There was a pause of some length. Flora was silenced, but her eyes had filled, and her face wore a pained and bitter expression. Meredith had glanced at her and thought it better not to speak. Maggie was in a depth of meditation. Fenton had gone scrambling down the rocks. Esther looked somewhat bored.

"Have you got your book there, Meredith?" Mr. Murray asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Read us something more. And after that you may all bring your questions. We came here on purpose to talk, as I understood."

"There are different sort of things here, sir. Shall I give you a change?"

"What you will--

"'O day most calm, most bright, The fruit of this, the next world's bud-- Th' indors.e.m.e.nt of supreme delight, Writ by a friend, and with his blood; The couch of time; cares balm and bay; The week were dark but for thy light; Thy torch doth show the way.'"

"That's better than anything I have got, sir," said Meredith.

"No. But it is good. And just here and to-day the Sabbath seems dressed in royal robes. I could not but think of those lines."

"I confess, Mr. Murray, Sunday is nothing like that to me," said Flora.

"You are honest, Miss Flora. That gives me some hope of you. No, naturally the Sabbath does not seem like that to you yet.--Well, Meredith?"

"Is there more of it, sir?" Meredith's sister asked.

"More than you would care for, Miss Flora.--

"'Sundays the pillars are On which heav'n's palace arched lies; The other days fill up the spare And hollow room with vanities.--'"

"And yet that need not be true, either. Go on, Meredith. What will you give us?"

"Two stories, sir, on the words, 'Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.'"

"'On the twenty-fifth of June 1530, therefore three hundred and forty years ago, as is well known, our Lutheran Confession of Faith was delivered before the diet at Augsburg. There was the powerful emperor Charles V., and his brother, King Ferdinand, besides a number of electoral princes, dukes and bishops. Before this crowd of some three or four hundred n.o.bles, stood a little company of seven princes and two represented cities; that is, the Elector John the Constant and his son John Frederick of Saxony, Margrave George of Brandenburg, Duke Ernst the Confessor and his brother Francis of Luneburg, Landgrave Philip of Hesse, Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt, and the two burgermasters of Nurnberg and Reutlingen. These nine stood forth with the spirit of heroes, and confessed, under signature of their names, that in this faith they would live and die, and that no power of earth or h.e.l.l should make them turn from it. For the Lutherans were wickedly slandered, as men who no longer believed in anything, and who therefore deserved no other than to be rooted out from the earth. That was why the Lutheran princes had requested that it might be granted them to declare their faith publicly before the Diet; to the end that everybody might know how their belief rested upon the Scriptures and stood in harmony with the universal ancient Christian Church; and indeed had flung away only the false human teachings which had found their way into the Church. For this purpose the twenty-fifth of June was fixed. The electoral chancellor Beyer stepped into the middle of the hall with the written Confession of Faith in his hand. The evangelical princes rose and stood listening while it was read, and testified that this was the faith they held, to which by G.o.d's help they would stand unmoved. Then did all that were present hear what the faith of the Lutherans was; there stood the doctrine of the triune G.o.d, of original sin, of the eternal G.o.dhead of Jesus Christ; of justification before G.o.d through grace alone by faith in Jesus Christ, &c., though I hope I do not need to tell you any more about it; I think you all know the Augsburg Confession and have read it, for surely you are all of you Lutheran Christians, and all Lutheran Christians know the Augsburg Confession. But if there be one among you who does not yet know this act of confession, let him be ashamed of himself, and get a copy with all speed, and read it, and read it again. When it was read aloud at Augsburg, the impression it made was very great; people saw that the Lutherans had been shamefully slandered. Duke William of Bavaria reproached De Eck with having represented the Lutheran doctrine to him in entirely false colours. The doctor answered, he would undertake to refute this writing from the Christian fathers, but not from the Scripture. Then the duke returned, "So, if I hear aright, the Lutherans are _in_ the Scriptures, and we near by!"

"'There did the steadfast Lutherans keep that saying in their hearts--"Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown."

Ay, when before the beginning of the Diet the Lutheran ministers earnestly besought the Elector of Saxony that he would not for their sakes run into danger, but graciously permit them to appear alone and give in their declaration before the emperor, the undaunted prince made them answer--"G.o.d forbid that I should be shut out from your company; I will confess my Lord Jesus Christ with you."

"'This is one story about those words; now I will give you another--'"

"Stop one minute, Ditto. Uncle Eden, I do not exactly understand all that?"

"What do you not understand?"

"Who were all those people?"

"The Catholic n.o.bles of the German empire, with Charles the Fifth, a very powerful emperor, at their head, and the chief Catholic church doctors and dignitaries,--all that on one side; representing the powers of this world. On the other side, a little handful of men whom Luther's teaching had awakened out of the darkness of the Middle Ages, confessing Christ before men; representing the feeble flock of His followers."

"Yes," said Maggie thoughtfully. "Was there danger?"

"There was great danger to whoever got into the power of the Catholic lords."

"Do you think the world is always against the truth, Mr. Murray?" Flora asked.

Mr. Murray answered in the words of the psalm--"'Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and their rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.'"

"But all times are not like those times of the Reformation?"

"Not just. The world power strives against the Church in a variety of ways, sometimes with force and sometimes with guile. The beast in the vision, who has his power from the devil, sometimes makes war with the saints; and sometimes 'he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell save he that has the mark.'--Miss Flora, I believe the war times are the less evil and dangerous. Well, Meredith, you bear interruptions philosophically. Go on with your new story."

"This new story 'happened more than two hundred years ago, at a place called Galgenberg' (that is Gallows.h.i.+ll, Maggie), 'in the neighbourhood of Hermannsburg. In old times a gallows used to stand there, on which thieves and oath-breakers were hung.'"

"Oath-breakers!" said Mr. Murray. "It seems the Saxons kept their hatred of untruth. But I beg your pardon, Meredith."

"It's half the fun, to stop and talk, sir. 'At that time the criminal jurisdiction was located in Hermannsburg; and four times in the year, at quarter-day, court was held here and the judgment carried into effect as soon as delivered. To this end the justiciaries of Hermannsburg, Bergen, and Fallingbostel came together here and held the court, after they had first attended the weekly service in the church at Hermannsburg to prepare them for their vocation; for quarter-day always fell upon a Wednesday. However in those days perjury and theft were so rare, that once it happened that twenty years pa.s.sed away, with court held every quarter-day, and n.o.body was sentenced. The justice of Hermannsburg had two staves, one all white, and one parti-coloured. If he found no one guilty, he broke the coloured staff; if, however, anybody was convicted, then he broke the white staff, with the words,

"The staff is broken, The judgment is spoken, Man, thou must hang."

"'And then, after the pastor had prayed with the criminal, the sentence was executed.'"

"Fearful times, sir," said Meredith pausing.

"Horrible!" echoed Flora.

"Two sides to the question," said Mr. Murray. "I am musing over the novelty of the combination. Twenty years without one man convicted of theft or a false oath! Think of that, and you will comprehend the horror of the crime which made such sudden work with the criminal."

"I will go on," said Meredith.--"'Some old people are yet living who have seen the gallows which stood on the Galgenberg. Now I will tell you my story about the words, "Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." It was in the Thirty Years' War, which from 1618 to 1648 raged between the Catholics and the Protestants. Through all this miserable time the parish of Hermannsburg enjoyed the rare good fortune of having a faithful shepherd over it; his name was Andreas Kruse; he became pastor in 1617, and died in 1652. His successor, Paulus Boccatius, gives him this testimony in the church register--"True as gold, pure as silver. Ah, thou faithful and good servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things."

For years at a time the church at Hermannsburg was closed to him. At those times he went with his people into the wilds and held divine service there. Furthermore, the whole of the neighbouring pastors were either dead of the plague, or killed, or driven away; so that he took care of all their parishes beside his own; and this he did for twenty-five years. One good supporter he had in a bailiff called Andreas Schluter, who died in the year 1643, and lies buried in the churchyard at Hermannsburg; a man after G.o.d's heart, who faithfully stood by his pastor and often hid him away in his house for weeks at a time. The pastor did not merely celebrate divine service; he had also preserved the silver church vessels from the plundering hands of the enemy. These silver vessels were used in the service of the Lord's supper; and after it was over, the sacristan or clerk set tin ones in their place upon the altar. They did not mean to act any lie by this means, however, for the tin vessels were not made for the purposes of deception, but had been there beforetime. Things went on in this way until the year 1633. At that time Duke George a.s.sembled an army and marched against the imperial forces His men were burning with an eagerness for the fight, which delighted the duke. The enemy were stationed at Nienburg and Hameln.

Seeing that the duke was approaching them they drew back to Oldendorf in the Hesse country, and there the duke got hold of them in the month of June 1633. When his faithful followers asked him, "What shall the battle cry be?"--"G.o.d with us!" answered the duke; and therewith they went at the enemy bravely. And soon the foe were so fearfully beaten that they scattered and fled in every direction--fifty imperial standards and twenty cannon remaining in the duke's hands.

"'Among the fugitives were the two imperial generals Merode and Gronsfeld. The former was wounded to death and died at Nienburg.