# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1901_S1 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) ta * Ghe Lutheran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PUBLISHED BY THE HyANGELICAL LUTHERAN SynopICAL CONFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. XXII. St. Louis, Mo., January, 1901. No. 1. In God’s Hand. Our times are in Thy hand, Father, we wish them there; Our life, our soul, our all, we leave Entirely to Thy care. Our times are in Thy hand, Whatever they may be, Pleasing or painful, dark or bright, As best may seem to Thee. Our times are in Thy hand, Why should we doubt or fear? A Father’s hand will never cause His child a needless tear. Our times are in Thy hand, Jesus, the crucified! The hand our many sins had pierced Is now our guard and guide. Our times are in Thy hand, Jesus, the Advocate! Nor can that hand be stretched in vain For us to supplicate. Our times are in Thy hand, We'd always trust in Thee, Till we have left this weary land, And all Thy glory .sce. PLOY Selected. —_—> +o 0 - Jesus. The name Jesus greets us at the beginning of a new year and at the opening of a new century. It is a precious name, that name Jesus. It was given to the Child born at Bethlehem, not by men, but by God Himself through an angel who was sent to Joseph with the command, ‘‘Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”” No one may here say, What is there ina name? In this name, given by God Himself, there is everything we need. Jesus means Saviour, and He to whom this name was given really is what the name means. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.’? He was called Jesus, because He is Jesus, the Saviour. We read in history of men who were called Saviours, because they saved their people from some enemy. Washington is called the saviour of his country, and we once heard a colored speaker call Lincoln the saviour of the colored race. Such saviours are only temporal deliverers from some temporal evil, but in all the centuries there has never been such a Saviour as He that was called Jesus by God’s own command. He saves from sin, the root of all ill, the source of all our woe. Sin is the evil of all evils. It drove Adam and Eve out of Paradise and made this earth a land of toil, and sorrow, and tears, and graves. There is no enemy like sin. It de- stroys both body and soul and ruins for time and eternity. It makes men slaves and drags them down into everlasting damnation. Throughout the centuries we behold every- where the ruin and devastation wrought by sin. Thanks be to God, we have a Saviour from sin. Christ came to overcome that monster. He was called Jesus, because He was to save His people from their sins. In what way He did this; through what great sufferings and agony He had to pass, we know. He was made under the law and perfectly fulfilled in our stead every commandment which we had broken. He took all our sins upon Himself and suffered the punishment which we de- served. This He did for sinners and thus re- deemed every sinner from the curse of the law and from the punishment of sin. In Him we now have forgiveness of sins and life ever- lasting. What a blessed message this is: ‘‘His name was called Jesus.’’ In that name we have all we need. How sweet it sounds! Through all the changing scenes of our pilgrimage it comforts when no other will; even in death Jesus is often the last name lisped by the dying one, and causes a smile of joy even as life ebbs away. ‘‘I am going to be with Jesus,” have been the last joyful words of many a child of God. Believe in Jesus, and in that name you will have the waters of salvation which wash away all your sins. Believe in Jesus, and that name will be to you full of comfort and peace in all trials and sorrows of life. Believe in Jesus, and that name will be to you a safe guide throughout your pilgrimage. Believe in Jesus, and when death comes, that name will give you the victory over death and the grave and will bring you the joys of ever- lasting life. Abide in Jesus. ‘And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have con- fidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming,’’ 1 John 2, 28. How solemn and touching is this appeal at the beginning of a new year! Christ is com- ing, and it may be, this year, this month, this week; for nothing remains to be fulfilled, be- fore His shout may be heard, calling us to Himself. Should that shout be heard now, would it find the state of our heart such to- ward our Lord, toward our brethren, and to- ward the world, that we would have confidence at His appearing, or would we be ashamed before Him at His coming? Well might an sged Christian write, ‘‘Let us then be always abiding in Him; every day, every hour, every instant; even as we would wish to be found abiding in Him, were He to appear this very day, this very hour, this very instant. He is about to appear; to ap- pear suddenly; to come quickly. Oh! let us see to it, that as we would not wish Him to come when we were in such a state as to cause shrinking from Him in shame; as we would rather that when He appears we were in a position to spring forward with keen eye and outstretched arm—to welcome in all confi- dence Him whom we love; let us see to it that we ‘abide in Him.’” New Every Morning. “The Lord’s mercies are new every morn- ing.”? What an assurance this is to carry with us in all our wayfaring through the world! The future is always dark tous. The shadows brood over it. A veil hides it from our sight. What is under the shadows, what is behind the veil, none of us can know. We have no anxious questions to ask. This is enough for all that is coming: ‘‘The Lord’s mercies are new every morning.” Take up each day as it comes, certain of this, that, whatever it lays upon you to door bear, it will bring new mer- cies for new deeds. L. S. mPa Eft Tite