The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1886, Page 25

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SyNopICAL CONFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. VIII.

St. Louis, Mo., July, 1886.

No. 7.

The Child of God.

A child of God! and can this earth’s vain pleasures
Be aught to one for whom the Saviour died?

Rise, rise above them all! its worthless treasures,
Its soul-destroying joys, its pomp and pride!

Be His in all! Let soul and eye be single,
Fixed on the glory that surrounds the throne;
Seek not Christ’s service with the world to mingle,
Remember God hath sealed thee for His own.

——~ o<ae >

True Freedmen.

The Children of God are true freedmen.
They have been made free by the truth of the
Gospel which -they accepted through faith.
Unbelievers are not free; they are the slaves
of Satan and of sin, and the end of their
slavery is eternal damnation. Of them our
Lord says, ‘‘Ye are of your father the, devil,
and the lusts of your father ye will do,’’ John
8, 44. And St. Paul says of man in his nat-
ural state that he is ‘“‘sold under sin.’’ He is
sold under sin like a slave under his master.
It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit,
through the means of grace that men are
brought from such a state of wretched slayéry/
to the happy condition of the free children of.
God. St. Paul says, ‘‘Ye are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many
of you as have been baptized into Christ have
put on Christ,’ Gal. 3, 27. 28. 3

Those who are thus through the power of
the Holy Spirit made children of God by faith
in Christ Jesus, are not slaves or servants, but
heirs. ‘‘As many as are led by the Spirit of
God, they are the sons of God. For ye have
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear,
but ye have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit
Himself benreth witness with our spirit that
we are the children of God; and if children,
then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with
Christ,’’ Rom. 8, 14—17.

Because believers are thus received into
God’s family and are made joint heirs with
Christ of the eternal joy in heaven, they are
the true freedmen and enjoy the glorious liberty
of the children of God. ‘They are freed from
the spirit of bondage and of fear. ‘Where

the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,’
2 Cor. 3, 17. They are free from the curse
which lies upon all men by nature on account
of sin. They are free from the fears which
torment the unbelieving soul in view of death
and the judgment. They are free from the
constraint of the law, having a child-like
spirit which walks in the ways of holiness
without any driving and forcing of the law.
They think with thankfulness and joy of the
mansions prepared for them in their Father’s
house, and of the blessedness which is in store
for them when their pilgrimage in this strange
land is ended and they shall possess the ever-
lasting inheritance of the free children of God.
They rejoice in the hope of this heavenly glory
and eternal liberty.

“None Other Name!”

Speaking of the name of Jesus before the
Jewish rulers, the apostle Peter uttered these
memorable words: ‘‘Neither is there salvation
in any other; for there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we
must be saved.’’ It is impossible to express
at doctrine more clearly and forcibly than do
these words; and the man who can, with this
declgration before him, expect to be saved and

reach heayen in any other way than through |

faith in the name of Jesus, is simply an un-
believer, no matter what he may call himself.

But to the true believer this is a most de-
lightful truth. He is glad that there is ‘“‘none
other name.’’ He looks up and cries, “Thou
art all my salvation and all my desire.”

Christ, as 2 Saviour, will no more occupy
a divided throne in man’s heart than he will
in heaven. Not one of Adam’s sinful race will
ever occupy one of those blessed mansions who
cannot unite in the song of the redeemed,
“Unto Him that loved us and washed us from
our sins in His blood.”

What would the man who went to heaven
because he had never done any harm, or be-
cause he had been honest in his dealings and
kind to his family, or because he thought God
would not punish his sins on account of his
so-called good works — what would such a one

do with that song of the redeemed in heaven?
He must either remain silent amid the grateful
praises of heaven, or utter a lie if he joined in
them.
other name’’ would not be true.
the redeemed would be foreign to him, and his

song, if he had any, would create discord in
heaven.

In his case the glorious words “none
The song of

These words of the Apostle cut up by the

roots all other hopes of salvation but that name,
that only name, by which we can be saved; and
the true Christian is very glad that it is so.
He who truly loves Christ has no desire at all
for salvation in any other way.
glory and happiness to which his soul can
aspire is to be one of that blood-washed throng
whose gladdest song shall ever be “to Him
that loved us and gave Himself for us.’
Through His name, through the name of
Jesus, the believer has become a child of God
and an heir of salvation.

The highest

What a name that
is which can raise a sinner from the depths of

sin and misery to such heights of glory and

honor! Well might the Apostle, with the

light and warmth of Pentecost still fresh in

his heart, exclaim, ‘‘None other name!”’
? ?

> - 0-2

The Pillar of Love.

In a certain district in Russia there is to be
seen in a solitary place, a pillar with this in-
scription: “Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his
friend.’’? ‘That pillar tells a touching tale,
which many of you must have heard. It was
a wild region, infested with wolves, and as a
little party travelled along, it soon became
plain that these were on their track. The

istols were fired; one horse after another was
left to the ravenous wolves, till, as they came
nearer and nothing else remained to be tried,
the faithful servant, in spite of the expostula-
tions of his master, threw himself into the midst
of them, and by his own death saved his mas-
ter. That pillar marks the spot where his
bones were found; that inscription records the
noble instance of attachment. But there is
another nobler still. There is another pillar,
and on it I read, ‘‘Herein is love, not that we
loved God, but, that He loved us and sent His
Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’” That
pillar is the Bible--the noble pillar of Scripture
—vwritten all over with loving words, and tell-
ing of salvation.