The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1882, Page 9

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

i
4
}
i
‘
|
}
)

Che Lutheran

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

Pusuisuep By THE EvANGELICAL LurneraN SynopicaL ConFereNce or NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. IV.

St. Louis, Mo., February, 1882.

No. 2.

The Gift of God.

“The gift of God! the gift of God!
Who will buy the gift of God?”’

Snch is the ery of the water-carrier as he
goes about the streets of Egyptian towns, with
his waterskin thrown over his shoulder, during
the season of drought, when the water, from
its preciousness, may well be called, as it is,
“the gift of God.”’

As the water-carrier goes along his way—
now coming into a wealthy part of the town—
a rich man, thinking of the need of the poor,
and wishing to bestow a kindness on them, steps
out of his mansion, and pays the man for all
the water he has, desiring him to go into the
poorest quarter und-give it away,

The man hastens off, and reaches a lane
where the poorest have their dwellings, and
now changes his cry, and instead of saying,—
“Who will buy the gift of God?’’ he cries out:

“The gift of God! the gift of God!
Who will take the gift of God!”

We can imagine how eagerly and gladly the
poor thirsty ones gather around him, and that
there would not be much delay before the
empty vessels were brought out of their houses
to be filled. ‘Give me a drop!’’ ‘‘ Remember
me!”’ ‘Fill up my pitcher!’’ ‘Let me have
a draught!’’ and such-like eager appeals, in
beseeching tones, would make the water-carrier
think how best he could dispose of the precious
liquid; and, while gladdening him to be the
bearer of so free and prized a gift, it would go
to his very heart that he had not enough for all.

What a grand picture we have here of ‘‘ the
water of life,” which is offered ‘‘ without money
and without price’’ to every one that thirsteth!

Jesus has paid for the water for which our
souls were dying for: thirst; and as we have
“no money,” it would be a hopeless case in-
deed for us, if He, in His love and in His pity,
had not thought of our need, and come forth
from His glorious mansion above, not only to
purchase it for us, but actually to bring it with
His own hands to our parched lips. X.

————s +o

zanrropE is a debt which all men owe and
which few pay cheerfully.

The Colored Woman's Question.

Some years ago a pastor in one of our west-
ern cities held a series of lectures against the
infidelity of our time. He spoke on the Evi-
dences of Christianity. Among his hearers
were two persons unlike in every respect. One
was a highly educated man, the president of an
infidel club. He came to take notes that were

If not, why do you not love Him? Has He
ever harmed you, or has He ever harmed the
world? Oh, no! In infinite love He gave His
own life for you and for the whole sinful world.
He redeemed you with His own precious blood.
Would you grieve His heart, so noble, so good,
so loving, by turning away from His entreating
voice in the Gospel: ‘‘Come unto me, and I
will give you rest’’? If you continue to neg-

to be laid before the meetings of the skeptics. | lect Him to the close of your short life and die
The other person was an old and unlearned | without faith in that Saviour, God will surely

colored woman. She came, not because she
understood the arguments, but because she was
glad to be where the name of her Saviour was
honored. On a certain evening during service,
a sleet fell, covering the stone steps of the
church building, and as the old colored woman
was leaving at the close of the sermon, she
slipped, and might have been severely injured
if the infidel, who was coming down the steps
at the same time, had not caught her and
kindly helped her to the sidewalk. She thanked
him, and then said in a low, tremulous voice,
“Young master, do you love Jesus?’’ They
parted, but that voice of the colored woman
followed the infidel to his room, and started a
mighty tide of emotion in his proud heart.
He read the Bible, and was convinced of the
utter sinfulness of his nature. From the
Bible he also Jearned to know his Saviour, and
with tears in his eyes he saw that for many
years he had rejected and despised his best
Friend, that Friend who had loved him with
an infinite love.

The pastor soon heard that an infidel, who
had been one of his hearers, was converted.
He went to see him and wished to know what
argument had convinced him of his error.
“<Qh,"’ he said, “‘I listened to all of your argu-
ments with unmoved indifference, save when
they excited a feeling of intense opposition to
the views you advanced; but it was the simple
question of an old colored woman, ‘do you love
Jesus?’ that led me to see the cruelty of my
conduct towards my best Friend.” The pastor
learned that, because infidelity has its seat not
in the head, but in the heart, the power of
God is necessary to sweep away the barriers
which unbelief has reared around the soul.

My dear, dying reader, do you love Jesus?

shut you up in hell; for He will not permit
you to count the blood of His Son a common
thing. Other questions may engage your at-
tention now, but sooner or later that question
of the old colored woman must be answered by
you: ‘*Do you love Jesus?’’ May you be one
of those who can say from the bottom of their
hearts: ‘‘We love Him, because He first loved
us,’ 1 John 4, 19.

a 0 eo ee

Napoleon and the Soldier.

Many years ago, after a_day of fierce fight-
ing at Marengo, Napoleon Bonaparte had placed
his sentinels at different points of the camp.
They were charged, on the pain of death, to
keep awake, and guard against being surprised
by the enemy. About midnight Napoleon rose,
and, walking round, found one of the sentinels
asleep, his gun lying beside him. The soldier,
no doubt, had been worn out by the terrible
fatigue of the preceding day—but then the
law must be obeyed; discipline must be kept
up; the sentinel’s duty must be done; or else
he must die. What did the Emperor do?
Softly and silently, he took up the gun, put it
on his own shoulder, and acted as sentinel till
the dawn of day. When the soldier awoke, he
was filled with alarm at having left his duty
undone, concluding that he was a lost man.
But Napoleon (who had done this generous act
from love to him as a soldier) simply handed
back to him his gun, and bade him be more
awake in future.—In this case, ‘‘By the obe-
dience of that one,’’ the law was kept to the
letter. And even thus, the Lord Jesus took
up our undone obedience, and by His life of
spotless holiness in our room, fulfilled all right-
eousness for us. x.