# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1893_S1 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) a7 Che Autheran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LurnHERAN SyNopicaL CoNFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. XY. St. Louis, Mo., January, 1893. No. 1. Thoughts for the New Year. The Lord is my Shepherd ; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in the green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies ; ‘Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.—Ps. 23. s+ <> oo Something to Hold On By. How loudly the flight of time speaks to us! Another year is gone and eternity is nearer. The new year might be our last year upon earth. It will be well for us to have some- thing to hold on by in our last hour. A woman who had been a prominent lecturer on infidelity came to her dying pillow. Being much disturbed in her mind, her friends gath- ered about her and exhorted her to ‘‘hold on to the last.”’ ‘‘Yes, I have no objection to holding on,’’ said the dying woman, ‘but will you tell me what I am to hold on by?’’ These words so deeply impressed an infidel standing by that he was led to renounce the delusion. False doctrine will not do ‘‘to hold on by”’ in the solemn hour of death. “Father,”? said a young man as he lay dy- ing, ‘‘I find eternal punishment, which I have so long disputed, now to be an awful reality.”” At another time he said, ‘‘As soon as I am dead, write to my friends that the doctrine we have tried to propagate is an awful delusion— that it forsook me on my deathbed.”” Said another under similar circumstances, ‘Ror several years past I have followed the doctrines of Universalist preachers, and be- lieved os they did; but TI find it all a delusion now. ‘Tell my old friends not to trust in such a refuge of lies, but to repent and believe in the Saviour of sinners.’’ How different it was with that young Chris- tian at whose dyingbed we stood some years ago. ‘*O, how dearly I love you all,’’ he said. ““But I would rather be with Jesus. Lay me straight in the bed, father, and cover me up, and let me wait my Father’s time.’’ When sight and hearing were growing dull, he seemed not to recognize his friends, but on his father’s asking, ‘‘My darling son, do you know Jesus ?’’ he answered with sudden animation, ‘‘Oh, yes; oh, yes. I know Jesus! I have a steadfast trust in Jesus, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with gold or ‘silver, but with His holy precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, so that I may be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, even as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true!’” That was something by which he could hold fast to the end. And such trust may we all have on our dyingbed. We Are Pilgrims. We are Pirerims. Our years are spent “like a tale that is told,’’ they flow by like the passing stream. We have hardly got used to writing 1892 at the head of our letters, when we are already called upon to exchange it for 1893. Many a pilgrim has been called away during the past year. It was the last year of his life upon earth. Many a chair is empty at the family table, and many a new grave casts its shadow upon the path of life. Let us re- member our days, for we are pilgrims. WE ane Prrerms. ‘Yes,’ says the world- ling, ‘therefore let us eat and drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die.” Foolish man! That is not the lesson to be learned. Death does not end all. judgment.’” That eternity will be to man either an eternity of woe or of happiness and joy. we should ‘‘number our days, that we apply our hearts unto wisdom.’’ by going on in sin. sin and dies in sin, rejecting the only Saviour of sinners, passes through the dark gates of Death to the judgment-seat of God with all his sins upon him. holy God will hurl him into eternal damnation; for ‘the that believeth not shall be damned,’’ says the Bible. dom! Prepare to meet your God! Believe in the Saviour, of whom the angel said to Joseph: “Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins.’’ By faith in Him you will have everlasting life and need not fear death. to the eternal joys of heaven; for Jesus says, The Bible says, ‘‘It is ap- pointed unto men once to die, but after this the We are on the road to eternity. Therefore This is not done The man who goes on in The wrath of a just and Apply your heart unto wis- You will pass through death ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into. condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.”” We are Pirerims. There is comfort for all true believers. Heaven is our home. We are on our journey to that home above. Trav- elers must often put up with bad lodging, they must often pass over rough roads, and through many a storm, and through many a dark and dangerous place. So the path of our journey may often be the path of sorrows, and troub- les, and tribulations; still we may travel on cheerfully. We are pilgrims and strangers in this world. Our home is above. And every true believer can look up to Jesus and say, “Tam Zhy pilgrim.’”? There is sweet comfort in this; for Jesus takes care of all those that are His. He abides with them and gives them eternal blessings and everlasting consolation. So we joyfully travel on through the year 1893. A few more days, or months, or years, and then our wanderings will close, and we shall come home, and ‘‘God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.’”