# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1880_S17 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) Che Lutheran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PusiisneD BY THE EVANGELICAL LutnerRAN SyNnoDICAL CONFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo. Edited by Prof. R. A. BISCHOFF. » as second-class matter. Vol. Il. St. Louis, Mo., July, 1880. No. 5. A Little Talk with Jesus. A little talk with Jesus, how it smooths the rugged road! How it seems to help me onward, when I faint be- neath my load! When my heart is crushed with sorrow, and my eyes with tears are dim; ~ There is nought can yield me comfort, like a little talk with Him. I tell Him I am weary, and I fain would be at rest, That I am daily, hourly longing to repose upon His breast; And He answers me so sweetly, in the tenderest tones of love, *“‘T am coming soon to take thee to my happy home above.”’ Ah, this is what I am wanting, His lovely face to see; And, I’m not afraid to say it, I know He’s wanting me. He gave His life a ransom, to make me all His own, And He’ll ne’er forget His word to me, His dearly purchased one. The way seems long and weary to yonder far-off clime, But a little talk with Jesus doth while away the time. The more I come to know Him, and all His grace explore, It sets me ever longing to know Him more and more. I often feel so tired and mourn His long delay, For I never can be happy while He remains away. But we shall not long be parted, I know He’ll quickly come ; And we shall dwell together in that happy, happy home. So I'll wait a little longer, till His appointed time, And along the upward pathway my pilgrim feet shall climb. There, in my Father’s dwelling, where many man- sions be, I shall sweetly talk with Jesus, and He will talk with me. 5 (Selected.) ———=»—~ oe ee THERE was an amazing work to be done for our redemption. The law, the justice, the holi- ness of God about the awful evil of sin was to be satisfied, and to this end suffering was to be endured. But man could not satisfy, and God could not suffer. Therefore Jesus was born, the God-man, son of God, son of man, both to satisfy and to suffer, without even the taint of our corruption upon His holy nature. Cling Closer. True Christians are the children of God cling- ing to the Saviour with the hand of faith. The closer they cling to Him, the happier they will be. The sunshine of earthly happiness, how- ever, easily loosens their hold on the Saviour, and God therefore leads his children often through dark ways of sorrow and tribulation. Clouds gather above them, and the dark gloom surrounds them. What is God’s aim in doing this? He wishes to bring them nearer and nearer to the Saviour, He wishes to make them cling more closely to Him. We lately read a beautiful illustration of this truth, an illustra- tion which we, and surely many of our readers, know from experience. It is evening, the lamp is burning brightly in the room and the chil- dren are at their play. Bed-time comes, and we take the little child into our arms out of the bright room to carry it to its little bed. The .| hall is dark, and the stairs are so dark; and the tiny arms of the child tighten, the little head nestles closer in its trust, because we have come away from the light. And the closer the child clings to us, the surer it seems to be that we will carry it safely through the dark up to its little bed. So God, for the sake of having us cling more closely, sometimes carries us in the dark. Perhaps it is loss of property, or the pains of sickness, or the going out of dear ones forever from the home, or the weary struggle for bread, or the coldness of valued friends— God is carrying us in the dark. Do we cling closer? Do we trust more fully? Oh, let us cling more closely to God, knowing that His strong and loving arms will carry us safe through the dark to our place of eternal rest and peace and happiness, where ‘‘neither sor- row, nor crying, nor pain”’ shall be; for sin, our deepest sorrow, comes not there. Dear Christian reader, marked with the sign of suffer- ing, bowed down with trouble and with care, cling closer, cling closer to the Saviour, and read from the red letters of your trials that sweet name of yours: Son, Daughter! (Heb. 12, 6—8.) True religion gives no CHETATEERD © to ignorance. (For the ‘Lutheran Pioneer.’’) “Because | am a Sinner.” A little boy of seven years lay sick and, as was supposed, was dying. Yet during the whole time his peaceful state of heart was ob- served by those around him, and, at length, through mercy he was restored to health. Soon after his father, in speaking of his dangerous sickness, said to him: “Charley, were you not afraid of dying when you were so sick?”’ “Oh, no, sir! Not at all.’’ ““Why, how is that, my son?” “* Because I am a sinner.” “But could that give you such peace?”’ ‘Because, father, Christ died for sinners, and I know He died for me, because I am a sinner.”’ Reader, let this little boy be your teacher. If you are a sinner, that places you in the company of those that Jesus Christ came into the world to save. He came ‘‘to seek and to save that which was lost.” If you are a sin- ner, then you are entitled and welcome to all that Christ Jesus earned by His suffering and death for all sinners, namely forgiveness of sins and eternal life. All this you can have and be happy and glad, only you must be a sinner. And a sinner you are, for ‘‘there is no differ- ence: they all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’? Acknowledge, therefore, that you are a great, lost, and condemned sin- ner and believe that Christ died for you too, because you area sinner. Then you may live and die happy and in peace. Just such as you are has He saved, none else. Don’t think you must be good, holy and sinless if you will live and die happy. You never would. But sin- ners knowing their sinful and lost state and believing that Christ has saved sinners need fear nothing. They know they are pardoned and are sure of heaven. F. B. a Oe Back Brrers.—People who are friendly to your face, and who speak against you when your back is turned, are like cowardly dogs which slip up behind you, bite and run. Such people are rightly called Back Brrers.