The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1882, Page 14

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

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3 (For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioncer.’’)

‘He that liveth, and was dead.”
(Rev. 1, 18.)

“HE WAS DEAD.”

O darkest woe!

Ye tears, forth flow!
Has carth so sad a wonder,
That the Father’s only Son
Now lies buried yonder!

O sorrow dread!

Our God is dead,
But by His expiation
Of our guilt upon the cross
Gained for us salvation.

O son of man!

It was the ban
Of death on thee that brought Him
Down to suffer for thy sins,
And such woc hath wrought Him.

Sce, stained with blood

The Lamb of God,
Thy bridegroom, lies before thee,
Pouring out His life, that He
May to life restore thee!

O Ground of faith,

Laid low in death!
Sweet lips now silent sleeping!
Surely, all that live must mourn
Here with bitter weeping.

O Virgin-born,

Thy death we mourn,
Thou lovely Star of gladness!
Who could see Thy reeking blood
Void of grief and sadness?

Yea, blest shall he
Forever be,
Who ponders well this story,
That into the tomb was laid
Christ, the Lord of Glory.

O Jesus blest!

My Help and Rest!
With tears I now entreat Thee:
Let me love Thee to the last,

Till in heaven I greet Thee!
(J. Rist, 1041.)

“HE LIVETH.”’
**Y know that my Redeemer lives!’’
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, He lives, who once was dead,
He lives, my ever-living Head.
He lives to bless me with His love,
He lives to plead for me above,

He lives my hungry soul to feed,
He lives to help in time of need.

He lives to grant me rich supply,

_ He lives to guide me with His eye,

He lives to comfort me when faint,
He lives to hear my souls complaint.

He lives to silence all my fears,
He lives to wipe away my tears,
He lives to calm my troubled heart,
He lives all blessings to impart.

He lives, and grants me daily breath,
He lives, and I shall conquer death;
He lives my mansion to prepare,

“He lives to bring me safely there.

He lives, all glory to His name!
He lives, my Jesus, still the same!
O heavenly joy this sentence gives:
«J know that my Redeemer lives!??
: _ (S. Medley, 1800.)

_| from heaven to feed our souls unto life everlast-

(For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioncer’’.)

Do not neglect reading your Bible.

searching be accompanied with fervent prayer
that God, through His good Spirit, would write
His Word in your heart to your spiritual profit
and everlasting comfort, that it be to you as the
dew of heaven, as the springs of living water
and as the savor of life unto life. Do not neq-
lect reading the Bible! ‘‘ Blessed are they that
keep His testimonies and seek Him with their
whole heart.”” Ps. 119, 2. G. R.

o<—ame-

Reading the Bible.

Why not? Because, if you do, you disobey
your Father in heaven and deprive your own
self of heavenly treasures. The more we study
the Bible, the more do we get acquainted with
God. The written Word is, as it were, a mir-
ror, which reflects God, showing forth His glo-
rious, adorable essence and His good will to-
wards us. In His Word we see both His face
and His heart. ‘‘Acquaint now thyself with
Him and be at peace; thereby good shall come
unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from
His mouth and lay up His words in thine
heart’’—said the patient Job of old, and has
thus given an invaluable advice of which we
ever are to be mindful. The acquaintance with
God, or, which is the same, the acquaintance
with His Word, can not but benefit us for pres-
ent and eternal good. ‘‘ For whatsoever things
were written aforetime, were written for our
learning, that we through patience and com-
fort of the Scriptures might have hope’, Rom.
15, 4. The Scriptures are able to make us
wise unto salvation; they are the Word of sal-
vation, sent to us. Acts 13, 26. They are
written, that we might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God; and that believing,
we might have life everlasting through His
name. John 20, 31. In the Scriptures we
have life, eternal life, John 5, 39.; they are
they that testify of Him, who is the Way and
the Truth and the Life. In order that we may
be saved, God desires us to ‘‘search the Script-
ures.’”? We must read the Bible, if we desire
to come to the knowledge of the saving truth
which is in Christ Jesus. We must continually
read and study that divine book, if we desire
to grow in that knowledge. The holy Script-
ures are the bright sun that brings light into
our soul and unto our ways, in that it makes
known unto us the merciful kindness of God
in Christ our Saviour and imparts to us that
faith which lays hold of Christ’s merits. Not
knowing the Scriptures is to err—to walk in
the darkness of unbelief towards perdition,
Matth. 22, 29. For as that man, who is de-
prived of his natural sight, knows not how nor
where to walk, so is he that wants the light of
God; he wanders abroad like a stray sheep,| But what is this that the bush is not burned

destitute of a shepherd.—The Scriptures are | and consumed? It is this: Although Christ suf-

the living manna, the bread which came down | fers and dies, He shall not remain in death, but
rise, and live. And why is this? Because He

is not a mere man, but the very God. If He
had been a mere man like us, He would have
been far too weak for death and hell; but be-
cause He is God, and God is life, it is impos-
sible that, according to eternal Godhead, He
should die. For even if He dies according to
the flesh, He cannot remain in death, because
life must live. Therefore, this God manifest in
the flesh, though dead, must rise again, in order
that He may give forgiveness of sin, life and
salyation to all that believe on Him. Hell
has broken her teeth upon this Christ, and has
thereby lost her power.—Juther.

Daniel Webster.—F rom the time that, at my
mother’s feet or on my father’s knee, I first
learned to lisp verses from the sacred writings,
they have been my daily study and- vigilant
contemplation. If there be anything in my
style or thoughts to be commended, the credit
is due to my kind parents in instilling into my
mind an early love of the Scriptures.

On one occasion, while seated in a drawing
room with some friends, Mr. Webster laid his
hand on a copy of the Scriptures, saying, with
great emphasis, ‘‘ This is the book!’’ This led
to a conversation on the importance of the
Scriptures, and the too frequent neglect of the
study of the Bible by gentlemen of the legal
profession. Mr. Webster said, ‘‘I have read
through the entire Bible many times. I now
make a practice to go through it once a year.
It is the book of all others for lawyers as well as
for divines; and I pity the man who cannot
find in it a rich supply of thought, and of rules
for his conduct; it fits man for life—it prepares
him for death.”

John Quincy Adams.—I have for many years
made it a practice to read through the Bible
once every year. My custom is to read four or
five chapters every morning, immediately after
rising from my bed. It employs about an hour
of my time and seems to me the most suitable
manner of beginning the day. In whatsoever
light we regard the Bible, whether with refer-
ence to revelation, to history, or to morality, it
is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of
knowledge and virtue.

The Burning Bush.

ing; the fountain from which spring the waters
of life in abundance; the ‘green pastures’’
and the ‘‘still-waters.’’ Not knowing and
reading the Scriptures is to starve the soul to
death! Go then, eat and drink, and let your
soul delight in fatness. Is. 55,2. Let the
Word of God be your daily bread. Study it
diligently. Read it with reverence. And that
you may not fail diligently to attend to the
reading of the Bible, set apart some portion of
your time for that purpose. It is a godly prac-
tice, upon which rest God's promises of un-
speakable blessings. Let your reading and