# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1892_S9 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) SS is 3 AOR Behe a2 ys oe & ye as SSE heran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PosiisHEeD BY THE EvanorticaL Lurueran SynopicaL Conrerence or Norra AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louls, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. XIV. St. Louis, Mo., March, 1892. No. 3. “Ve Are My Witnesses.” Tell me, pilgrim, faint and weary, Traveling o’er this pathway dim, Are you shedding light around you, Are you witnessing for Him? Do you try to tell the story Of the precious Saviour’s love? Are you hungering and thirsting Evermore your love to prove? Are you seeking out the lost ones Whom the Master died to win? Are you showing them the fountain That can wash away their sin? Are you looking by the wayside For the weary ones who fall? Do you take them to the Saviour Who has promised rest for all? Do you love to read the Bible— Is it precious to your soul? Are its treasures growing richer As you travel toward the goal? Do you love to talk of Jesus More than all the world beside? Does it bring a holy comfort With his people to abide? Have you made a consecration Of your time and earthly store? If your all is on the altar, Then the Master asks no more. Thus, O pilgrim, should we. journey, Showing forth the Master’s praise, With our lamps all trimmed and burning, That the world may catch their rays. Selected. oo The Lenten Season. The forty days before Easter are called the Lenten Season. ‘This season is again at our door. From the earliest periods of the Church these forty days have been set apart for meditation upon the sufferings and death of our Saviour. ‘The Lutheran Church still observes this beautiful custom. In this sea- son of the year she calls upon all her mem- bers to. go with the suffering Saviour on His way of sorrows from Gethsemane to Calvary, and to contemplate with contrite and prayer- ful hearts the great work of the only Mediator between God and man. We know that the ob- servance of the Lenten season is not ordered by God. No one, however, can question the usefulness and appropriateness of devoting a certain time of the year to the special con- templation of the sufferings and death of Christ. . From the first book of the Bible to the last, Christ’s sufferings and death are pointed out as the very heart of the Gospel. The redemption of the sinful world by the blood of the Redeemer runs like a scarlet thread through the entire Word of God. The right observance of the Lenten Season will surely be attended with great spiritual blessings. He who thinks light of sin can learn its greatness from the bitter sufferings of the Holy One. The sin-hating God saw His sin-bearing Son and poured upon Him the vials of His wrath. What a horrible thing sin must be, since it brought upon Christ that great agony and shameful death upon the cross! How great must be God’s wrath over sin, since He spared not His beloved Son when He saw Him laden with the sins of the world! . From the sufferings and death of Christ we learn also the greatness of God’s love. Why, did Christ suffer and die? There was no sin in Him. No. But there were sins on Him. These sins were our sins. ‘‘The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all,’’ says the Bible. And again the Bible says, ‘‘He bore our sins.’’? And what moved God to send His Son into this world to bear our sins and to suffer and die in our stead? The Bible says, ‘‘God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever be- lieveth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’’ Christ loved us, and there- fore gave Himself for us and redeemed us from everlasting woe. Was ever love like this? Such love must melt the sinner’s heart and move him to trust in that Saviour for forgive- ness of sin and life everlasting. The sinner may rest assured that the loving Saviour, who suffered and died for the salvation of sinners, will in no wise cast out them that come to Him. The more we come to know this great love of God, the more shall we be moved to make known the Gospel of His love to those that still sit in the darkness of sin and in the shadows of death. We shall more and more love Him who loved us first, and this love will be the great motive power and incentive to mission- work. ‘Thus the right observance of the Lenten Season will also awaken and intensify the mis- sionary spirit in all our churches. ——> + 0a > Look to Christ. Looking at the natural sun weakens the eye; but the more we look at Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, the stronger and clearer will the eye of faith be. you will love Him, and live on Him and for Him. that He gave Himself for you, that you may be saved not only from the guilt of sin, but also from its present power over you. % how much He loved you—how much He suf- fered for you, and you will loathe sin in every form. Love to read the Scriptures—they tes- tify of Christ. carried about ‘‘with every wind of doctrine’’? Be occupied with Christ. The ‘‘Rock of ages’’ is a sure foundation —‘‘the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.’’ weary you, and its cares threaten to over- whelm, look unto Him who says, ‘‘Come unto Look but at Christ, then Are you tempted to sin? Remember Think Are you in danger of being Do the trials of life me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”’ Sincerity Not Enough. The popular saying is: ‘‘It makes no dif- ference what a man believes, just so he is sin- | cere.”? Solomon had a different saying. He says, ‘‘There is a way that seemeth right unto’ aman, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.’? The words of the wise man hold the truth; the popular saying teaches a hurtful — lie. A man’s sincerity will not save him from the evil consequences of believing a falsehood. To believe-in a lie in moral and spiritual things is hurtful to my soul's interest, however sincere I may be. Itis truth that saves, not sincerity. Christ’s prayer was that men might be sancti- fied through the truth, not sincerity. Thetruth ; blesses; falsehood damns. The truth makes free; falsehood brings bonds and shackles. Away with the hateful error—that sincerity will answer for truth! God has not so spoken.