The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1884, Page 13

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY

MONTHLY.

PuBLIsHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LurnuerAN SynopicAL CoNFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.

Vol. VI.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

St. Louis, Mo., April, 1884.

“A. GALLI 0.

“It is Finished.’’

Come to Jesus with thy sadness,
Come with every sigh and groan.
All thy unbelief is madness,
All thy griefs could not atone.
It is sinished! Hallelujah!
Jesus saves, and He alone.

See! for sin, what bitter anguish
> Jesus bore upon the tree;
See Him left by God to languish
In atoning agony!
It is finished! Hallelujah!
Jesus died from wrath to free!

At the cross is now thy station;
Lo! without thy grief or prayer,
What a full, a free salvation
God has waiting for thee there.
It is finished! Hallelujah!
Frees from all thy anxious care.

—————> oa o> eo -

Rest in the Lord! wait patiently for Him. Be

silent to God, and let him mold thee.

still, and he will mold thee to the right shape.

Blessed Hope!

In certain parts of Germany it is a custom
with some people to go out into the grave yard
at the dawn of Easter morning and sing hymns

| of praise at the graves of their beloved ones. |

It is a beautiful custom which gives expression
to the Christian’s blessed hope on Easter Day.
The Easter tidings of a risen and living Savior
give us the assurance that there is a life beyond
the grave in which those who fall asleep in
Jesus find a home of eternal joy and bliss.
When we have laid the bodies of our beloved
ones in the dark and silent grave, it is indeed
sad to go home and leave them behind; but it
is not we that go home and leave them behind ;
no, it is they who are gone to the better home
and left us behind. We, however, have the
blessed hope of meeting them in that eternal
home. ‘Therefore St. Paul says, ‘I would not
have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even
as others which have no hope. For if we be-
lieve that Jesus died and rose again, even so
them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring
with Him,’’ 1 Thess. 4, 18. 14. Yes, there
will come a day of resurrection, when the shout
of the living Saviour shall be heard and the
dead in Him shall gladly respond to the joyous
call; ‘‘then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them [mark
that, afflicted one, sorrowing over the grave of
a sleeping saint or child, together with them] in
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord,”’ 1 Thess. 4, 17.

——»> +o oe > oe

The Debt Paid.

Henry Clay, the eminent American, was at
one time greatly troubled by a debt of $10,000
due io the Northern Bank of Kentucky at
Lexington. Some of his friends in different
parts of the Union heard of his condition, and
quietly raised the money and paid off the debt.
Not knowing what had been going on, he went
to the bank one day and, addressing the cashier,
said: ‘I have called to see you in reference to
that debt of mine to the bank.’’ ‘You don't
owe us anything,” replied the cashier. ‘‘Why!

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

No. 4.

How am I to understand you?’? ‘A number

| of your friends have paid off the debt and you

do not owe this bank one dollar.’’ The tears
rushed to Mr. Clay’s eyes, and, unable to speak,
he turned and walked out of the bank.

This is a faint image of what Jesus has done
for us. Our debt is so great that we could
never pay it off. Our sins are so many that no
creature could atone for them. But the debt
must be paid. If not paid, we would be thrown
into the prison-house of eternal death and dam-
nation. And now behold the greatness of
Christ’s love! He, the eternal Son of God,
became man, and taking our place under the
law, he met all the demands of God’s law in
our stead and fulfilled all that the law required
ofus. The debt which we owed He paid off
with His holy precious blood and with His in-
nocent sufferings and death. When He cried
out on the cross: “It is finished!’ full pay-
ment for all our debts had been made, and the
hand-writing that was against us had been
blotted out. And the glad Easter tidings of a
risen Savior give us the assurance that this
payment has been accepted by God the Father.
By raising Christ from the dead He solemnly
declared before heaven and earth that He is.
perfectly satisfied with the work of His Son
and that the price which His Son laid down
has been accepted as the full payment of all
our debt. With the Gospel, therefore, God
gives us a receipt in full, and the sinner who:
believes the Gospel accepts this receipt and
knows with the unerring knowledge of faith,
which rests upon God’s own receipt, that his
debt is paid. Happy believer! Well may
tears of gratitude rush to his eyes and well
may his heart be filled with a joy which his.

| lips cannot express.

—————— s+ oo

Sarr an old divine, ‘““Make me what Thou
wilt, Lord, and set me where Thou wilt. Any-
where where I may be serviceable. Let me be.
employed for Thee, or laid aside for Thee, ex-
alted for Thee, or trodden under foot for Thee.
I freely and heartily resign all to Thy pleasure.
and disposal.”” :

er

‘A BELIEVER'S dying day is his crowning day.