The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1887, Page 17

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Che Lutheran Pioneer, |

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNODICAL CONFERENCE OF NortTH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

ol. IX.

St. Louis, Mo., May, 1887.

No. 5.

Will You be There?

Beyond this life of hopes and fears,
Beyond this world of grief and tears,
There is a region fair;
It knows no change and no decay,
No night, but one unending day;
O say, will you be there?

Its glorious gates are closed to sin,
Naught that defiles can enter in
To mar its beauty rare;
Upon that bright eternal shore
Earth’s bitter curse is known no more;
O say, will you be there?

No drooping form, no tearful eye,
No hoary head, no weary sign;
No pain, no grief, no care;
But joys which mortals may not know,
Like a calm river, ever flow;
O say, will you be there?

Those who have learned at Jesus’ cross
All earthly gain to count but loss
So that His love they share;
Who, gazing on the Crucified,
By faith can say, ‘For me He died,’’
These, these shall all be there!

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The Ascension.

When Jesus ascended up into heaven, St.
Luke tells us that His disciples returned to
Jerusalem with great joy. Great was their
joy as they dwelt upon the glorious event of
which they were witnesses, great their joy as
they looked for the power shortly to come upon
them, and great their joy as they thought of
the day when He they loved should come
again. With joy they went back to Jerusalem
to await in simple obedience the blessing of
the outpouring of the Holy Ghost promised to
them. They found ground for rejoicing also in
the glorious ending of their loved One’s labors.
They had been witnesses of His sorrows; they
had seen His sufferings; they had been present
when the world rejected Him, and now they
had seen the end of all that, and the exalta-
tion of Him to whom they gave the love of
their hearts. :

To us also Christ’s ascension into heaven may
well be a source of great joy. To us also the
glorious ending of the Saviour’s work is a matter

j\ the glad news of the finished work of our re-

of joyful thanksgiving. He came into the world
to snap the bonds of slavery with which we
were bound by sin and Satan. He came to set
us free. He took our sins and our punishment
upon Himself and was thrown into prison in
our stead. Our enemies rejoiced. But they
could not hold Him captive. Jesus broke the
prison. Rising from the grave, He came forth
as the Conqueror over all our enemies; and
ascending into heaven, He led our captivity
captive, He made our enemies captives and
slaves. And now we rejoice over the finished
work of our redemption. Ir Is FINISHED!
This is the cry of victory from the cross. Iv
IS FINISHED! This is the cry of triumph from
the empty grave on Easter morning. It 1s
FINISHED! This triumphant shout we again
hear from the Mount of Olive on Ascension
Day. Yes, the work of our redemption is
finished, and nothing has been left undone.
Christ, therefore, before His ascension told His
disciples to go out into the world and preach
the Gospel to all creatures. That Gospel is

knocking, he heard some one moving; he
knocked again, but no one came; he waited
some time, but after knocking repeatedly, he
had to leave without gaining admittance. A
day or two afterward he met the woman in the
street, and told her that he had been at the
house, with a view of helping her. ‘Oh,
doctor!’’ exclaimed the poor widow, ‘‘was that
you? Why I thought it was the landlord, and
was afraid to open, as I had nothing to pay
him with.”

Now, that woman closing the door of her
house against her best friend, is just like the
sinner closing his heart against Jesus. The
Lord Jesus knocks at the door of our heart,
and says, ‘‘Behold, I stand at the door and
knock, if any man open the door I will come
in and sup with him.’’ Have you let Him in?
Have you kept the door fastened, trembling
all the while lest God should find you out, be-
cause you think that He has come to ask you
to be something, or to do something which you
cannot be or do.

Our Saviour wants toegive you a gift, dear
reader, the gift of a new heart, of forgiveness,
and of His great love. Will you trust Him
and receive His gift?—D. L. M.

demption. They who accept this Gospel in
true faith have forgiveness of sins and life
everlasting. With confidence and joy they
look for the time when He who ascended into
heaven will come again in like manner as the
disciples saw Him go. They will see Him
whom their souls loved and will dwell in the
heavenly mansions of joy which their ascended
Saviour prepared’for them. Dear reader, will
you be there?

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Crooked Habits.

While shaking hands with an old man the
other day, we noticed that some of his fingers
were bent quite inward, and he had not the
power of straightening them. Alluding to this
fact, he said, ‘‘In these crooked fingers there
is a good text fora talk to children. For fifty
years I used to drive a stage coach, and these
bent fingers show the effects of holding the reins
for s0 many years.”

This is the text. Is it not a suggestive one?

Afraid of God.

/ A great many people are afraid of God, he-
cause they think that He wants to get some-
thing from them which they are not able to
give. This isa great mistake. God wants us
to receive what He has got to give, and it is be-
cause we will not receive His gift that we are
unhappy.

When I was in Glasgow, Dr. Wm. Arnot
heard that a poor woman, living in one of the
wretched courts, was unable to pay her rent,
and he thought he would go round to her
house and give her some assistance. After

come a habit, and, once acquired, remain
generally through life? ‘The old man’s crooked
fingers, dear children, are but an emblem of
the crooked tempers, words and actions of men
and women.

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He is rich who has a merciful God.

Does it not teach us how oft-repeated’ acts be- ©