The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1883, Page 25

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Che Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

Pusuisuep By THE EvaNGELicaL Luraeran Synopicat Conrerence oF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. Y.

St. Louis, Mo., July, 1883.

No. 7.

(For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer.’’)

| Cor. 3, 16.

Within my heart, defiled with guilt,
A spiritual church is built,

Forever colored with the blood

Of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

There dwelleth God, the Father, Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One;

He is my soul’s beloved guest,

And grants my heart true peace and rest.

This little church looks poor and odd;
But being, the abode of God,

It has a glorious, peerless grace:

It is God’s royal dwelling-place.

This little church, Lord, I commend
Unto Thy care, and pray: Defend
And keep it from adversity,

And dwell therein eternally!

(Dr. B. Derschau, ¢ 1639. Tr. by A. Crull, 18S2.)

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True Freedom.

Men like to be free and think it a grand
thing to live in a free country. But most men
know nothing about true freedom. There was
Pat Ryan. He celebrated his freedom by
marching behind a big flag on the Fourth of
July, and by giving himself up to drinking
and fighting. ‘‘For,’’ said he,. “we live in a
free country and I am a free man.’’ Well, the
Fourth’ passed by, and the next morning Pat
stood before the Police Judge for having taken
part in a murderous fight. He was sent to
hard labor in the Penitentiary. He lived in a
free country, yes. But still he was a slave, a
slave of his own sinful passions. Sin was the
Master who held him in a most terrible slavery.

By nature all men are in this slavery to sin.
St. Paul plainly says that we are ‘‘sold under
sin.”’ And sin isa cruel master. It pays its
slaves with eternal misery in hell. ‘For the
wages of.sin is death,” says the Bible, Rom.
6, 28. You can easily see that the freedom
from the slavery of sin is the only true freedom
which every man needs. The Saviour speaks
of this freedom when He says, ‘‘Ye shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free,”’
John 8, 32. And again He says, ‘If the Son

John 8, 36. Weare first told that the truth
makes us free, and then we are told that the
Son makes us free. How is this? Let me tell
you. The truth which makes us free is the
Gospel. For Christ says, ‘‘If ye continue in
my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and
ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free.’’ By continuing in the word
of Jesus we shall know the truth; for His word
is the truth. The word of Jesus, however, is
not the word of the law, but the word of the
Gospel, which tells us that ‘‘God so loved the
world that He gave His only-begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him shall not
perish but have everlasting life.’’ It tells us
that the Son of God became the Saviour of sin-
ners and by His life, sufferings and death con-
quered sin and all enemies that held dominion
over us. ‘The Gospel, however, does not only
tell us this, but in the Gospel the loving Sav-
iour Himself comes to every sinner. Whoso-
ever accepts Him, that is, whosoever believes
in Him, enjoys that freedom which. was pur-
chased for all sinners more than 1800 years
ago. The Son has made Him free through the
Gospel, and he is free indeed. He is made
free from the slavery and from the curse of sin.
Sin, it is true, is still in his old nature, but he
has also a new nature, born of the Spirit of
God. And he fights against sin by the power
of God, and does not suffer sin to become his
master. This is true freedom—the freedom
from the curse and slavery of sin.

———— soo oe

St. Paul’s Cloak.

A preacher was one day assailed by some
opponents, and one person remarked that the
Bible was full of fables. ‘The brawler referred
to Paul having forgotten his mantle. ‘That
is a passage quite suitable for me; perhaps also
for you, my friend. I am very forgetful. I see
here that the great apostle could forget, and
this comforts me, and admonishes me also, that
I should endeavor to make good what I forget.
I thought once like you, and forgot the one
thing needful; but now I endeavor not to for-
get the goodness of God. Have you, friend,

shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed,’’| forgotten this?’’

God’s Blessing.

By Dr. MARTIN LUTHER.

“The animals do not work in order to earn
their food; yet each has its work. The bird
flies and sings, and hatches its eggs; that is
its work. Horses carry men on the road, and
to the battle; sheep give us wool, milk, and
cheese; that is their work; yet that feeds them
not. The earth freely brings forth grass and
feeds them, through God’s blessing. Thus
Christ tells us to behold the fowls of the air;
they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather
into barns, and yet God feedeth them. That
is, they do their, appointed work, but not there-
by are they fed. So also must man work. But
let him know, it is Another that feeds him,
namely, God’s blessing upon his work.’’

Turn At Once.

If it is the sense of sin which does not let you
be comfortable, turn at once to “Him with
whom you have to do.’”’ Remember, it is not
with Satan that you-have to do, nor with your
accusing conscience, but with Jesus. He will
deal with all the rest; you only have to deal
with Him. And He is your great High Priest.
He has made full atonement for you; for the
very sins-that are weighing on you now. The
blood of that atonement, His own precious
blood, cleanseth us from all sin. Cleanseth
whom? People that have not sinned? Thank
God for the word, ‘‘cleanseth us’—us who
have sinned. And you have to do with Him
who shed it for your cleansing, who his own
self bare your sins in his body on the tree.

Original Sin.

Luther was one day being shaved and hay-
ing his hair cut in the presence of Dr. Jonas.
He said to the latter, ‘‘ Original sin isin us like

the heard. We are shaved to-day and look

clean, and have a smooth chin; to-morrow our
beard has grown again, nor does it cease grow-
ing while we remain on earth. In like manner
original sin can not be extirpated from us. It
springs up in us as long as we exist. Never-
theless we are bound to resist it to the utmost
of our strength, and to cut it down unceasingly.”