# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1894_S21 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) Che Autheran Pioneer. A MI SSIONARY MONTHLUY. PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNODICAL CoNFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louls, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. XVI. St . Louis, Mo., June, 1894. No. 6. Jesus. “There is none other name under cavan given ,tmong men, whereby we must be saved,” Acts 4, 12. Is thy heart of sin aweary? Jesus is the sinner’s friend. Do thy faithless friends forsake thee? Jesus’ love is without end. Thou wilt seck in vain for rest Elsewhere than the Saviour’s breast. Dost thou doubt if God doth love thee? Hark! and let thy doubts be done: “God so loved the world’ of sinners, “That He gave His only Son,”’ That whoe’er in Him believe Might eternal life receive. Dost thou think, ‘‘Ah! well, perhaps so; But there’s time enough for me.’’ This is only Satan’s whisper, He’d be fain detaining thee. Every hour that passeth by Brings thee near eternity. Friend, I pray thee, cease this folly, And this trifling with thy God. Jesus waits, with love and mercy, Pleading still His own life’s blood. How He died that thou might’st be Glad for all eternity. Jesus is the blessed Saviour, And His heart is e’er the same. His the love, the power, that saves us; And “‘there is none other name” Which on earth has e’er been given Whereby we may enter heaven. H. McD. 2+ ao a The Heavenly Seeker. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. By nature all men are lost. ‘‘All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way,’’ saysthe prophet. If we were left to our own way it would end in eternal damnation. For that way is the way of sin, and ‘‘the wages of sin is death,’’ says-the apostle. But Christ came to seek and to save the lost. or this He came into the world and took upon Him- self our sins and bore the punishment which was our due. ‘‘The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all,’” says the prophet. Christ, the good Shepherd, gave His life for the lost sheep, thus redeeming them from sin and all its woe. And this redemption is brought to the lost ones. In the Gospel Jesus takes the place of the seeker. We do not seek after Him; He seeks after us. We do not go to Him* by nature. Our nature is to go away from Him, as with Adam when he hid away from God. It is not the lost sheep from the fold hunting up the shepherd, but it is the shepherd seeking after the lost sheep. He seeks it until he find it, and then, without one word of reproach, without one angry frown, without one sharp blow, he lays it on his shoul- ders rejoicing. He is glad to get back his lost one! Tenderly he bears it on his shoulders, not to the wilderness, but home, yes, home! Such a faithful Shepherd is Jesus, the Heavenly Seeker. Huving laid down His life for sinners, He seeks them through the Gos- pel, offers them His redemption, and works in their hearts that faith by which they be- come His own. And over every lost one that is thus found He rejoices and bears him on His strong shoulders through this world of tribu- lations and through the valley of the shadow of death to His home of everlasting joy and bliss. Happy are they whom Jesus has found! Are you one of them, my dear reader? Oh, there are many that will not heed the voice of the Heavenly Seeker! They reject this loving Saviour and are lost, because they will not be saved. It is not the Seeker’s fault, it is their own fault. Therefore to-day, if you hear His voicé, harden not your heart! death and sin; therefore forbear, be not afraid, neither do thou faint, for truly thou hast no cause; for Christ suffered death for thee, and prevailed for thy comfort and defence, and for that cause He sitteth at the right hand of His Father to deliver thee. Therefore whosoever thou art that art possessed with such heavy thoughts, know for certain that the same is a work and devising of the devil, for God hath sent His Son into the world, not to affright, but to comfort sinners. From hence these and the like sentences are oftentimes expressed in the Scriptures: Rejoice! Be joyful in the Lord. Be not afraid. Be not discouraged. Be of good comfort. I have overcome the world.’’—From Luther’s Table Talk. ~~ + 0-6 - ~+ ob or oe A Downcast Man. Luther, at Wittenberg, discerning a very melancholy man (whom he formerly knew), said unto him, ‘‘Ah, human creature, what doest thou? Hast thou nothing else in hand but to think of thy sins, on death and on dam- nation? Turn thine eyes quickly away, and look hither to this man Christ, of whom it is written, ‘He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered, died, was buried, the third day arose from the dead and ascended up_into heaven.’ ‘Wherefore dost thou think all this was done? Verily it was that thou shouldst comfort thyself against That is a very strong argument in fayor of Christian giving, which the apostle addresses to the Corinthians, when he says, ‘‘For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He be- came poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.’ Since He, the Sovereign Lord of all, became poor to make us rich, how willing which He has given to us, for the help of His was also in Christ Jesus.”’ should we be to contribute of our abundance, ~ poor saints? ‘*Let this mind bein you, which : t 3 B 5 &