The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1886, Page 26

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"The Lutheran Pioneer.

Save the Lost.

We carry on our mission work among the
colored people in church and school in order to
save the lost from eternal ruin. Should not
all our readers assist us in this noble work by
their prayers and contributions? We will tell
you a story which we recently read in one of
our exchanges.

There was once a boy in Liverpool, who
went into the water to bathe, and he was car-
ried out by the tide. Though he struggled long
and hard, he was not able to swim against the
ebbing tide, and he was taken far out to sea.

That evening a gentleman, who was walking
near the place where the little boy had gone
into the water, found his clothes lying on the
shore. He searched and made inquiries, but
no tidings were to be heard of the poor little
boy. He found a piece of paper in the pocket
of the boy's coat, by which he discovered who
it was to whom the clothes belonged. The
kind man went with a sad and heavy heart to
break the news to the parents. He said to the
father, ‘‘I am very sorry to tell you that I
found these clothes on the shore, and could not
find the lad to whom they belonged; I almost
fear he has been drowned.”’ The father could
hardly speak for grief; the mother was wild
with sorrow. They caused every inquiry to be
made, but no account was to be had of their
dear boy. ‘The house was sad; the little chil-
dren missed their play-fellow; mourning was
ordered; the mother spent her time crying,
and the father's heart was heavy. He said
little, but felt much.

} But the boy was picked up by a boat belong-
ing to a vessel bound for Dublin. He was al-
most lost. ‘The sailors were all very kind to
him, when he was taken into the vessel. One
gave him a cap, another a jacket, another a pair
of shoes, and so on.

The lad was taken back in a vessel bound
for Liverpool. As soon as he reached that
city, he set off toward his father’s house. He

* did not like to be seen in the strange cap and

; jacket and shoes which he had on, s0 he went

* by the lanes where he would not meet those
who knew him. At last he came to the hall
door. Heknocked. When the servant opened
it, and saw who it was, she screamed with joy,

_ and said, ‘‘Here is Master Tom!’’ His father

rushed out, and bursting into tears, embraced

him. His mother fainted. ‘‘There was no
more spirit in her.’’ What a happy evening
they all, parents and children, spent! They

did not want the mourning. The father could

say with Jacob, “It is enough; my son is yet

aliye.””

ut what do you think will be the rejoicing

eayen, when those who were in danger of

ig lost for ever, arrive safely on that happy

3? How will the angels rejoice, and the

neayen be glad! You will not go

the boy with the cap and clothes of
ashamed, but in garments of sal-

«
5

—] yes

shore

vation, white as snow, with crowns of glory
that fade not away.

But remember the great number of colored
children, who have never heard a word about
heaven, and who do not know that there is any
Saviour for lost men. Suppose you had seen
that Liverpool boy carried out to sea by the
tide. How would you have pitied him! Then
suppose you had seen the water full of children
all drifting out beyond the reach of human help.
How would your spirit have died within you!
When you should have turned away, and gone
home, how sad you would have felt! But many
of the colored children are drifting—Can you
tell whither? In order to save them from being
lost eternally we gather them into our schools
where they learn to know the Saviour of sin-
ners and are Jed on the way of salvation. Can
you stand by idle while we are carrying on this
work? We earnestly call upon you to help us
in this work of saving the lost.

—qJo
(For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer.’’)

Why it was necessary that our Saviour
should be both true God and true Man.

In spiritual matters man has no free will.
He cannot believe by his own reason that Jesus
Christ is both true God and true man, for his
understanding is darkened. (Ephes. 4, 18.)
The holy angels even cannot pierce into this
divine mystery. Yet it was necessary for our
Saviour to be both true man and true God,
that the human race might be rescued from
death, hell, and the devil. We sinners were in
need of such a redeemer who is God and man,
since no mere man could bear our sin and ap-
pease the wrath of God. For the Bible says:
‘None of them can by any means redeem his
brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, for
the redemption of their soul is precious, and it
ceaseth for ever,’’ Ps. 49, 8—9. ‘Or what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul,’
Mark. 8, 87. Neither could a mere divine being
save us. In order that we might be saved, it
was necessary that somebody should suffer and
die for us. But God is a Spirit and cannot die
and suffer. Therefore it was necessary that our
Saviour should be both true God and true man.
It was necessary for Him to be a true man,
that he might die and suffer for us sinners.
But it was also required that Christ, our Sav-
iour, should ’at the same time be true God,
that he might overcome death, hell, and the
devil and save us from eternal damnation.

—s,
——+ +0 o>

Demolishing the Bible.

The Bible is a book which has been refuted,
demolished, overthrown, and exploded, more
times than any other book you ever heard of.
Every little while somebody starts up and up-
sets this book; and it is like upsetting a solid
cube of granite. It is just as big one way as
the other; and when you have upset it, it is

right side up still. Every little while some-
body blows up the Bible; but when it comes
down it always lights on its feet, and runs
faster than ever through the world. They over-
threw the Bible a century ago, in Voltaire’s
time—entirely demolished the whole thing.
In less than a hundred years, said Voltaire,
Christianity will have been swept from exist-
ence, and will have passed into history. In-
fidelity ran riot through France, red-handed
and impious. A century has passed away.
Voltaire has ‘‘passed into history,’’ and not
very respectable history cither; but his old
printing-press, it is said, has been used to print
the Word of God; and the very house where
he lived is packed with Bibles, a depot for the
Geneva Bible Society. Thomas Paine demol-
ished the Bible, and finished it off finally; but
after he has crawled despairingly into a drunk-
ard’s grave in 1809, the book took such a leap
that since that time more than twenty times
as many Bibles have been made and scattered
through the world as ever were made before
since the creation of man. Up to the year
1800, from four to six million copies of the
Scriptures, in some thirty different languages,
comprised all that had been produced, since
the world began. Eighty years later, in 1880,
the statistics of eighty different Bible societies
which are now in existence with their un-
numbered agencies and auxiliaries, report more
than 165,000,000 Bibles, Testaments and por-
tions of Scripture with two hundred and six
new translations, distributed by Bible societies
alone since 1804; to say nothing of the un-
known millions of Bibles and Testaments which
have been issued and circulated by private
publishers throughout the world. For a book
that has been exploded so many times it still
shows signs of considerable life.

I have heard of a man traveling around the
country exploding this book, and showing up
“the mistakes of Moses,” at about two hundred
dollars a night. Itis easy work to abuse Moses
at two hundred dollars a night, especially as
Moses is dead and cannot talk back. It would
be worth something after hearing the infidel
on “the mistakes of Moses,’’ to hear Moses on
‘the mistakes of the infidel.’” When Moses
could talk back, he was rather a difficult man
to deal with. Pharaoh tried it, and met with
poor success. Jannes and Jambres withstood
Moses, and it is said found a grave in the Red
Sea. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram tried-it,
and went down into the deep. But now Moses
is dead, and it is easy to abuse him. It does.
not take a very brave beast to kick a dead lion.

H, L. Hastings.

eo

Heart Service.—The service of God should
be heart service. That of the lips is only an
abomination. We are to ‘‘call upon our souls’’
—to rouse the whole nature in praising and
glorifying our Creator and Saviour. He whose
heart is full of thanksgiving is living near.
heaven.