# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1902_S25 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) Ghe Autheran Pioneer, A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PuBLIsHED BY THE HvaNncELicaL Lutmeran SynopicaL ConFERENCE OF Nort AMeErica He Leadeth Me. In joyful paths not always—sometimes He Who knoweth best, in sorrow leadeth me Through weary ways, where heavy shadows be. Out of the sunshine warm and soft and bright, Out of the sunshine into darkest night. I oft would faint with sorrow and affright — Only for this: I know He holds my hand, And though the way be through a dark and dreary land, I trust, although I may not understand. So, down the shadowy vale my lonely way I go, And in the hereafter I shall know Why in His wisdom He hath led me so. Selected. —s +o or eo “Strive to Enter in at the Strait Gate!” So did the Saviour once say to a man in answer to the question, ‘‘Lord, are there few that be saved?” ; “Strive to enter in at the strait gate!”’ This is the exhortation which Jesus also addresses to you. And how can you ignore these words since the Bible and your own experience give you the plainest proof that many ,are on the way to perdition, hastening to the wide gate which opens unto eternal death, while only few find the way to eternal life through the strait gate beyond which are the glories of heaven! How can you go on carelessly ignor- ing the danger which has caused thousands, yea, millions to perish? In this matter it is either victory or death. If you will not strive you cannot win; the heavenly Canaan will not be yours, but bondage eternal in the Egypt of hell. Therefore, ‘Strive to enter in at the strait gate!’’ “Strive to enter in at the strait gate!”’ Con- sider the end of those who neglect to enter in at this gate, an end of unspeakable and end- less woe! Have you never yet seen them car- ried away suddenly to their doom? Have you never witnessed their despairing wringing of hands? Have you never heard their agoniz- ing cries of terror, or beheld their awful fear in the hour of death? Know you nothing of the trumpet’s tone that will awaken them on the last day and cite them to judgment — of the voice of thunder that will condemn them R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Oflice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. St. Louis, Mo, July, 1902. to endless torture—of their useless wailing —of the smoke of their torment that will as- cend up forever from the pit burning with everlasting sulphur? You stand before an abyss; its depth is incalculable —a lake of fire is roaring below—poisonous vapor it sends forth — horrid rumblings arise from its depths. Thousands of voices warn you; will you dis- regard all this? For your soul’s salvation, “strive to enter in at the strait gate!’’ “Strive to enter in at the strait gate!’’ How dare you despise this call, since you know not when the day of judgment will come? Know you when the lightning will flash down out of the black cloud? But know that the coming of the Son of man will be just as sudden. Do the birds know when the snare of the fowler will eatch them, or the fox when the trap will hold it fast? But know that as a snare will the day of the Lord come upon all that dwell on earth. Know you at what hour the thief will enter your house? But St. Paul and St. Peter both tell us that the last day will come as a thief-in the night. In view of this, will you be careless and heedless enough to continue in the way of sin? Dare we follow the example of the unfaithful servant who said, ‘My master will not yet come,” and then beat his fellow servants and ate and drank with the drunken? If we did so, could we expect aught but what he received—to be cast out where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth forever? Therefore I repeat, ‘‘Strive to enter in at the strait gate!”’ ‘Strive to enter in at the strait gate!’’? You know that you must die, but when, and how, and where you know not. There is nothing more certain than death, but know you when it will call you? There is nothing more sure than death, but know you where it yill over- take you? Nothing is more sure to come than death, but know you how it will come to you? O strive, then, that you enter in at the strait gate! But which is the ‘‘strait gate’” by which we are to enter? Christ gives us the answer; He says, ‘‘I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.’ Hear it, Osinner, Christ, the crucified Saviour, is the open door toheaven! ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.’’ ‘‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.’’ F. J. L. —_— soe oe The Charm of Luther’s Catechism. Dr. Rudelbach tells us that Henrick Schartau (died 1825) during his catechizations in Lund, the seat of a Swedish university, was privileged to behold a sight at which the angels in heaven must have rejoiced. High officials of the State and professors took their places among the as- sembled children and young people, and being overpowered by the Word, they did not merely listen attentively as those who are eager for salvation, but they also gave answers to the questions which were put. In addition they wrote out the whole catechization, and the ser- mon that was preached after it, so carefully that the lectures and the questions of their gifted teacher could be reproduced from their notes. These men became as little children according to the mind of the Saviour, in order that they might enter the kingdom of heaven, Matt. 18, 3. 2 + oo - — A Gospel Message. A young man had been for some time under a sense of sin and could find no peace, for he knew not the Gospel. He was a telegraph clerk, and being in the oflice one morning, he had to receive and transmit a telegram. To his great surprise, he spelled out these words: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’’ A gentleman out for a holiday was telegraphing a message in answer to a letter from a friend who was in trouble of soul. This Gospel message was meant for another, but the telegraph clerk received ever- lasting life from it; for the Holy Spirit applied the words to his troubled heart and thus gave him peace and consolation. a et ee WHEN Melanchthon, on his dying bed, was asked whether he still desired anything, he replied; ‘Nothing but heaven.’?