Aamon Always 1 Also Available from LutheranLibrary.org The Moon Over Willow Run: a novel by Dan E. L. Patch. The Purple Robe: a novel by Joseph Hocking The Trampled Cross by Joseph Hocking 2 About The Lutheran Library The Lutheran Library is a non-profit publisher of good Christian books. All are available in a variety of formats for use by anyone for free or at very little cost. There are never any licensing fees. We are Bible believing Christians who subscribe wholeheartedly to the Augsburg Confession as an accurate summary of Scripture, the chief article of which is Justification by Faith. Our purpose is to make available solid and encouraging material to strengthen believers in Christ. Prayers are requested for the next generation, that the Lord will plant in them a love of the truth, such that the hard-learned lessons of the past will not be forgotten. Please let others know of these books and this completely volunteer endeavor. May God bless you and keep you, help you, defend you, and lead you to know the depths of His kindness and love. 3 Aamon Always By Dan E. L. Patch CHIEF OF POLICE, HIGHLAND PARK, MICHIGAN; AUTHOR OF “PAST FINDING OUT” Chicago BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION © 1940 / 2019 (CC BY 4.0) LutheranLibrary.org 4 Dedication Dedicated to my beloved daughter MARGARET whose Christian life and radiant smile inspire me to greater service for Christ 5 Contents Also Available from LutheranLibrary.org About The Lutheran Library Dedication Contents Preface by Lutheran Librarian Foreword 1. Life’s Equations 2. Complications Develop 3. The Unseen Web 4. Defiance 5. Questions, Legal and Otherwise 6. Where the Treasure Is, There Shall the Heart be Also 7. A Venture in Crime 8. Whose Gold Is It? 9. Premonition of Trouble 10. Once a Jew, Always a Jew 11. Languishing in Jail 12. The Shadows Fall 13. Choice of Two Evils 14. The Die is Cast 15. The Law of Compensation 16. Facing Finland and Death 17. Future Without Promise 18. In Disguise 19. The Stowaway 20. The Holy Land 21. An Ensign for the Nations 22. A Man of Mystery 23. The Lord’s Doing 24. The Stumbling Block 6 25. The Great Iron Claw Copyright Notice How Can You Find Peace With God? Benediction More Than 100 Good Christian Books For You To Download And Enjoy 7 Preface by Lutheran Librarian In republishing this book, we seek to introduce this author to a new generation of those seeking spiritual truth. Dan E. L. Patch began his public service as a patrolman in the Police Department of the City of Highland Park. Within fifteen years, personal qualifications brought him through the various ranks to the position of Chief of Police. A quarter of a century of faithful service gave a feeling of joy and explicit confidence to all citizens who respected the law and who liked to see it administered without fear or favor. Professional competence was attested by the honor conferred by the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police when he was made their President for the years 1941-42. In later years he served as Chief of Police of Ypsilanti, Michigan. By J. McGill Reynar, Secretary of The Christian Business Men’s Committee of Detroit. The Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry finds, restores and republishes good, readable books from Lutheran authors and those of other sound Christian traditions. All titles are available at little to no cost in proofread and freshly typeset editions. Many free e-books are available at our website LutheranLibrary.org. Please enjoy this book and let others know about this completely volunteer service to God’s people. May the Lord bless you and bring you peace. 8 Foreword “JUVENILE DELINQUENCY” is a common phrase in every American city, indeed, in every nation. And how I hate to hear people talking about this condition in much the same way as they discuss the weather. Moreover, they are doing the same thing that Mark Twain said they did about the weather — nothing. We are hiding behind a propagating factor — our own moral misbehavior. What causes this condition? Adult delinquency! We don’t like to admit it, because when we do we step no our own toes. Who is responsible? God! How that answer amplifies our egotism. It fosters our attitude of self- sufficiency in shifting our responsibility. Yes, of course, God is responsible! Has He not ordained that man shall live under three laws — Physical, Moral, Spiritual? Then is not God to blame for existing conditions? we ask skeptically. No, God is not to blame, we are! Why? we naturally protest. Again the answer is evident. We defy God’s law of moral responsibility, and God’s laws are fixed, demanding a penalty absolute and sure. Therefore, the consequences are inevitable: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” “God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children.” Those who defy God and place themselves in opposition to the physical laws of gravitation, momentum, or chemical reaction must suffer the consequences. When we defy God’s moral law, civilization suffers the consequences. Hence, “juvenile delinquency.” When God’s spiritual law is defied, the soul of man suffers the consequences. Provincial law holds no cure or solution for all these problems, no matter how high the plane of self-righteousness; therefore, this volume is presented, pointing the way to the Door of Hope. DAN E. L. PATCH, HIGHLAND PARK, MICHIGAN. 9 1. Life’s Equations LIFE! Incapable of being clearly defined! The stumbling block of science! It was all about him, that aesthetic essence of existence, but what was it? Life! Aamon, the outcast, was perplexed; he thought, wondered, thinking the same thoughts and asking the same questions that every individual with a faculty for normal reasoning has asked himself since time immemorial. Life was a enigma to him and doubly so concerning his own being. To others it was a period of time between birth and death. To him it was an unrecorded existence between these unknown portals, laden with trials and tribulations. Yes, Aamon, the outcast, wondered! He was justly entitled to wonder. Life! Whence came it? Whence came he? Why was he living? It meant everything to him. How one life involved so much uncertainty was appalling! He was mystified, caught in a quagmire of tangled thoughts, faced with the concern of material existence, national existence and a complicated individual existence. And the struggle had only begun. As an outcast, only one course of action presented itself to him. Fight he must! He was facing the battle of life in cold, inescapable reality. But what was he to do? What could he do? He had never been concerned about it before. His father, the only father that he had ever known, took care of that. But now his father was dead and he, a outcast, had no place to lay his head. Oh, that he were in the grave beside the father whom he loved — the one who had done so much for him! Death would be a blessing compared to the avalanche of trouble that had suddenly descended upon his young shoulders, and all because life had ceased to function in the one who had been his father, his protector, his ever-ready counselor in time of need. He surveyed the dell into which he had fled as a haven of refuge in order to get away from the tormenting accusations of his older brothers. It was seething with life — all forms of life. Scarcely ten feet above him a mother robin was perched on the side of her nest feeding her young, while at the base of the tree a chipmunk scampered through the leaves toward a old 10 stump. On the dead stub of a stately old oak nearby a woodpecker incessantly hammered, vying for attention with a saucy gray squirrel that chattered be neath at the mouth of his den in the trunk of the tree. Beyond these immediate surroundings, floating through the shimmering sunlight, a number of butterflies displayed a blaze of color, as they hovered over a prolific dogwood in full bloom. It was midspring and the evidence of nature’s coming to life was to be seen everywhere. Yes, everywhere life was lending itself to the enchantment of the season. Aamon had never noticed so much activity. The place was abounding with life. There seemed to be animation everywhere. But that was not the right word. “Animation” did not fully explain it. Awe-stricken, he searched his mind for a word to fit the occasion but of failed. There was no satisfactory explanation within the scope of his knowledge, that was adequate to de scribe this manifestation of life. Slowly, he found his way to the bottom of a over hanging bank and lay down upon a carpet of green grass, alongside a little spring that originated in the hillside. Even the spring was invigorated by the call of nature! He marveled as he watched it effervescing from the clear white sand at the bottom of the little pool that served as the fountainhead of a tiny rivulet that trickled over the brightly colored stones to the river several hundred feet below. He lay and watched the spring for a long time. Its untiring energy was fascinating, but its charm was not sufficient to keep him from dwelling upon his own troubles. “I told you he is not our brother!” The taunting words had rung in his ears and re-echoed in the very depths of his heart, as he fled from the accusing presence of his three older brothers.