The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1886, Page 17

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The Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL Lurueran Synopioat ConrerENce or Norta AMERICA.

Vol. VILL.

(For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer.’’)
Song of Solomon |, 4.

“DRAW ME, WE WILL RUN AFTER THEE.??

i
Hliraw us to Thee,

| For then shall we
Walk in Thy steps forever,
And hasten on
Where Thou art gone,
To be with Thee, dear Saviour!

Draw us to Thee,

Lord, lovingly;

Let us depart with gladness,
That we may be

Forever free

From sorrow, grief, and sadness.

Draw us to Thee;

O grant that we

May find the road to heaven.
Direct our way,

Lest we should stray,

And from Thy paths be driven.

Draw us to Thee,

That also we

Thy heavenly bliss inherit,
And ever dwell

Where sin and hell

No more can vex our spirit.

Draw us to Thee

Unceasingly,

Into Thy kingdom take us;

Let us fore’er

Thy glory share,

Thy saints and joint-heirs make us.

(Translated from the German by A. C.)

—> 0a oo _

Jesus Lifted Up.

A few days before the death of our Lord
He uttered the remarkable words, ‘And I, if
I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.”
The Holy Ghost immediately adds, “This He
said, signifying what death He should die,
(ohn 12, 32. 83). Elsewhere we read, ‘‘As
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even go must the Son of man be lifted up; that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life,’ (John 3, 14. 15).
At another time He said to the Jews who
denied His Messiahship, ‘‘ When ye have lifted

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.
Pp

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

St. Louis, Mo., May, 1886.

up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I
am he,’’ (John 8, 28).

But what relation is there between the lifting
up and the sublime declaration, ‘‘I will draw
all men unto me’? We must remember that
Christ is ‘‘ the Lamb of God which taketh away
the sin of the world’. By being lifted up on
the cross He was made a curse for all sinners.
He was lifted up ‘‘that He should taste death
for every man,’ (Heb. 2, 9). Thus He made
an atonement broad enough for all sinners to
stand upon. Since He was lifted up, the re
demption of all sinners is a finished fact and
God is perfectly reconciled unto the sinful
world. God therefore ‘‘raised Him from the
dead, and set Him on His own right hand in
the heavenly places, far above all principality,
and power, and might, and dominion, and every
name that is named, not only in this world, but

-also in that which is to come; and hath put all

things under His feet, and gave Him to be the
bead over all things to the church,’ (ph. 1,
20—22). He who was lifted up on the cross as-
cended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand
of God, having finished.the work of redemption
for the accomplishment of which He had come
into the world. This redemption is brought to
all sinners in the Gospel to be accepted by
faith. Sinners are thus drawn unto Him in
whom alone salvation is found. Jesus lifted up
is revealed unto us in the Gospel, and when
seen by faith in the value of His atoning death
on the cross, and in the loveliness of His per-
son,we cry out with the bride, ‘‘Draw me, we
will run after thee.”’

Sincere but Wrong.

«Tf he is sincere in his belief, he has as good
a, chance of going to heaven as you or Thave,”
said some one the other day, when speaking of
a certain person who held and taught all kinds
of strange doctrines contrary to God's Word.

This idea, that provided a man 1s sincere in
his belief, no matter what it may be, God will
eafely admit him to the Eternal City, is one of
Satan’s delusions eminently prevalent at the
present day. Men seem to forget that Saul
was sincere in his belief when he shut up the

saints in prison; yea, not only sincere, ‘but
‘“‘exceedingly zealous’’ also. So were those
who killed the Prince of Life; and though
through ignorance they did it, God holds them
responsible for their lack of knowledge, and
that, notwithstanding they were perfectly sin-
cere in their convictions,

Had a bitten Israelite sincerely believed that
he knew of a better way than a simple glance
at the brazen serpent, he would have died
where he lay; and in like manner will the
sinner go down to endless damnation, if trust-
ing in a self-appointed way rather than in the
one so plainly revealed in God’s word written.

Man says, though I believe not, I shall be
saved, provided I am sincere in my unbelief.
God says, ‘‘He that believeth not the Son, shall
not see life but the wrath of God abideth on
him.’’ From all this we learn, that it is of the
utmost importance what we believe, or rather
in whom we believe. And as the One who
offers us eternal life, is no other than God’s
dear Son, how can we escape if we neglect His
great salvatjon? ;

He then who trusts simply in the sincerity
of his false belief; can’t be saved; while he who
trusts simply in the atoning work of Christ,
can't be lost.

—__— +c->-0+ 2 —___

“1 Am.The Way.” .

When Jesus said, ‘‘I am the way”? (John
14, 6), He did not mean that He was half the
way, nor two-thirds of the way, nor nine-tenths
of the way, but aut the way. He has paid
ALL the debt we owe; He has suffered atx the
penalty the law demanded as an atonement for
sin; He has done aut the work God required
to be done, ‘‘that He might be just, and the
justifier of him which be veth in Jesus”
(Rom. 8, 26). Love could stoop lower, for
He descended to the very depths of human
guilt and woe, ‘‘and the Lord hath laid on
Him the iniquity of us all’”” (Isa. 53, 6). Love
cannot raise us higher, for by and by He will
cause us to sit down with Him in His throne
(Rev. 8, 21). He is Aut the way between
these two extremes, and however dark our
stains, however far we have wandered, how-
ever dead and corrupt. and loathsome in tres-
pass and sin, “this is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, of whom
Iam chief” (1 Tim. 15).—J. H. B.