# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1900_S41 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) Tn Che Autheran Pioneer, A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LurHEeran SyYNoDICAL ConFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA. Vol. XXII. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. St. Louis s, Mo., November, 1900. No. 11. Now, no man will come to Jesus, no man|to wash His feet with her tears. She was Are You Ready? I sat in my study, weary After the toil of the day, And thinking more of the earth-life Than the heaven that seems far away, When my little boy came with his Bible To ask what is meant in God’s Word Where it biddeth all men to be ready For the coming of the Lord. I told him the wonderful meaning In the words that perplexed him so, And I saw the look in his blue eyes Graver and graver grow. Suddenly, ‘'Papa,’’ he asked me, “If you heard the Lord at the gate Calling you, would you say, ‘I am ready!’ Or would you want Him to wait th O how could I answer the question That thrilled me as never before ? I seemed for a moment to sce Him And hear His dread knock at the door— The Lord I had so long neglected— And hear, ‘‘Are you ready ?”” from Him, And I saw the grave eyes of my darling Through eyes that grew suddenly dim. I knew that the voice of my Father Had spoken in warning to me Of the danger there is in delaying, Through the lips of the child at my knee, And I cried, ‘‘Help me, Lord, to be ready!”’ And knew He would answer the prayer That went up from my heart as I folded His sweet little messenger there. Selected. —_.—- oo oe Come to Jesus. This is the Gospel invitation that comes to us during the entire Church Year. Every Gos- pel lesson calls upon sinners to come to Jesus that they may have life. In the Gospel we hear the voice of Jesus: ‘‘Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.’ How do sinners come to Jesus? They come to Jesus by believing in Him as their Saviour. ‘(And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger ; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.’’ From this we see that coming to Jesus is the same as believing or trusting in Jesus. .| pay no heed to the Gospel call: Come to Jesus. will put his trust in that Saviour, unless he is convinced of his sin, unless he feels that he is a sinner and needs a Saviour. Only the man that knows and feels that he is sick will call the doctor, only the man that knows and feels that he is drowning will grasp the rope that is thrown out to him to save him. So only he that knows and feels that he is a lost and con- demned sinner will come to Jesus for salva- tion. Most men do not feel themselves “theavy- laden’’ with sin, and therefore they reject the Saviour. The Gospel lessons of the Church Year offer to them life and salvation, but they known all over the city as a great sinner, but when she came to Jesus for salvation He re- ceived her with the kind words: ‘‘Thy sins are forgiven thee.’’ He did not cast out the robber who was sentenced to death for his crimes, and who in his last hour came to Him for salvation. He gave him everlasting life in Paradise. So every sinner that comes is welcome. The end of the Church Year reminds us of the end of the time of grace. The day is near at hand on which Christ will come to judge the quick and the dead. To those who have re- jected the only Saviour it will be a day of wrath and terror, but to those who have come to Jesus by faith it will be a day of great joy. They shall see what they have believed and shall enter into the full and undisturbed en- joyment of everlasting bliss. Heed, then, the Gospel invitation: Come to Jesus. But there are many who know and feel that they are sinners, and yet they do not come to Jesus. What is the matter with them? They do not want to come just as they are. They think they are, too bad and must make them- selves better before they can come. This isa sad mistake, by which the devil tries to keep sinners from coming to Jesus. He knows that as long as a sinner wants to make himself bet- ter before he will come to Jesus, he will never come. Man cannot make himself better by his own strength; for we are sinners by nature. Our whole nature is corrupt and sinful. We are ‘‘dead in trespasses and sin,”’ says the apostle. ‘‘We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,’’ says the prophet. How foolish is it for man to try to make himself better, since he has no strength to do it! Do not try to patch up that sinful nature of yours, but come to Jesus just as you are. Jesus will not cast out the sinner who comes to Him just as he is. He came into the world for the very purpose of saving sinners. “This isa faithful saying, and worthy of all accepta- tion, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.’’ He endured the most bitter sufferings and died the most shameful death upon the cross for the redemption of sinners. After having done all this for sinners, He will surely not cast out any one that comes to Him for salvation. He Himself says, “Him that cometh to me’? —no matter who he is and what he is—‘‘I will in no wise cast out.’” He did not cast out the woman thaticame to Him ——. ~~ oo § Reading the Bible. When Mr. Hone, who wrote the Everyday Book, and was of skeptical views, was travel- ing through Wales, he stopped at a cottage to ask for a drink of water, and a little girl an- swered him, ‘‘Oh, yes, sir; I have no doubt mother will give you some milk. Come in.” He went in and sat down. The little girl was reading the Bible. Mr. Hone said, “Well, my little girl, are vou getting your task?”” ‘No, sir; I am not,’’ she replied. ‘I am reading the Bible.”’ “Yes,” said he, ‘‘you are getting your task out of the Bible.” “Oh, no,’? she replied, ‘‘it is no task to read the Bible; I love the Bible.” ‘‘And why do you love the Bible?”’ said he. Her simple, childlike answer was, “I thought everybody loved the Bible.’’ Her own love to the precious volume had made her innocently believe that everybody else was equally delighted to read God’s Word. Mr. Hone was so touched with the sincerity of that expression that he read the Bible himself, and, instead of being an opponent to the things of God, came to be a friend of divine truth.