# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1897_S41 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) Ghe Autheran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PusiisueD BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SynopicAL CoNFERENCE OF Nortn AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Of_ice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. ol. XIX. ‘St. Louis, Mo., November, 18977. Hymn of Trust. I have, in hours of gladness, Found life all free from sadness And full of richest joy: Let me not now in sorrow, In trouble for the morrow, With foolish thoughts my soul annoy. My soul, though wrath deserving, O Lord, Thou art preserving, And softly chidest me: Shall I, for comfort sighing, Be cowardly, still trying Thy gentle punishments to flee? To Thee, Thy Spirit moving, I give my powers of loving, To Thee, my Lord and King: God can deceive me never, His word stands sure forever— My trusting heart to Him I bring. I will, when doubt comes o’er me, And clouds are thick before me, Keep closer to Thy side: And though Thy face be hidden, I shall not be forbidden Within my Father’s arms to hide. When I this carth am leaving To Christ, my soul receiving, V’ll yield my latest breath: I am an heir of heaven, My sins are all forgiven, Why fear I either grave or death? From the German. “Not of Works.” “I do the best I can,’’ or, ‘‘I hope to do better,”” are words which we often hear when Speaking to persons about their souls’ salva- tion. Many are so ignoranf that they think though some of their works are bad others are good, and that God will put the bad works in one'scale and the good ones into the other scale, and if there are more good works, they will be saved, and if there are more bad works, they will be lost. Of course, such persons always flatter themselves that they have more good works, and are thus deceived. Others compare themselves with their neigh- bors, and think they stand as good a chance 8S most, and a better chance than some ; there- fore they find no cause to fear. ; Again there are some that trust in their religious exercises. They go to church, they go to communion, they pray, they contribute money to the treasuries of the church. But they do all this, not out of love to God, but in order to earn heaven. They think the mere doing of these things will insure to them ever- lasting salvation. All such false trusts and refuges are swept away by this one sentence of Scripture: ‘‘By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast,’’ Eph. 2, 9. It is clear that if a person could be saved by his own doings, he might reasonably boast. “| But the apostle Paul asks, ‘‘ Where is boasting? It is excluded.’? And then he adds, ‘‘There- fore we conclude that'a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law.’’ It is a delusion, then, to trust to works of any kind for salvation; and it is utterly con- demned by the Word of God. Besides, it is clear that if man could save himself, Christ need not have come into the world to save. Therefore we find the apostle saying that ‘‘if righteousness come by the Jaw, then Christ is dead in vain,’’ Gal. 2, 21. Alas! what a fatal mistake those make that proudly trust in their own works. They de- ceive themselves. Whilst they think they are on the road to heaven, they are on the road to hell. What a terrible mistake! The fact is, that ‘‘a corrupt tree can not pring forth good fruit.’’ Man is corrupt, and all the fruit he brings forth of himself is but fruit unto death. The Bible says, ‘‘There is none that doeth good, no, not one.’’ Again it says, ‘‘We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.”” You surely can not expect to buy heaven with a lot of dirty rags. Thank God, salvation is God’s free gift to the sinner. ‘‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,”” John 3, 16. The Son of God became man to take away the sin of the world. In His sufferings and death He bore the punishment which is our due, and pro- cured salvation for all sinners. This salvation No. 11. is brought to every sinner in the Gospel, in which we hear the loving voice of the Saviour, ‘*Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.’’ Freely! What does that word mean? It means for nothing. We can not buy salva- tion with our works. It has been procured for us by Christ and is given to us in the Gospel for nothing. We are simply to take it with the hand of faith. Therefore it is written, ‘‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.’’ Dear reader, you will never find peace and salvation by trusting in your own works or by trusting in anything you find in your own sinful self. It is what Jesus is, not what we are; it is what Jesus has done for us, not what we do, that gives peace and rest and sal- vation to the soul. ‘Trust in Jesus only and be saved. Trust in Him every day of your life, and find in Him forgiveness of all sin and comfort in all sorrows. ‘Trust in Him in the hour of death, and your faith shall then be changed into sight. You shall then see Him face to face in everlasting joy and bliss, and with all the saints in heaven you shall in all eternity sing the glories of His grace. ———q@«@ 0-0 “A Little Child Shall Lead Them.” “YT once experienced a great bereavement, which tested my trust in God’s providence beyond any previous trial of my life. One night I was seated with my little boy on my knee, mourning over my loss, when my eyes rested on a favorite text over the mantel- piece. The eye of the child also turned in the same direction, and without any request on my part he read the text aloud: ‘The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.’ As I heard the words from my dear boy’s lips, they seemed to sink into my heart with a power they had never done before. To my surprise the child asked the question, ‘Papa, what does ‘‘perfect’’ mean?’ My heart was too full to make any reply for a few moments, and before I could break the silence, my little one supplied the answer by saying, ‘Papa, doesn’t it mean that God makes no mistakes?’ *” Selected.