The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1887, Page 25

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The Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE HvaNeEtica Lurueran SynopicaL Conrerence or Nort AMERICA.

St. Louis, M.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

o., July, i887.

The Useful Life.

**T must work the works of lim that sent me, while it is
day: the night cometh, when no man can work.’? John 9, 4.

Go, labor on; spend and be spent,
Thy joy to do the Father’s will;

It is the way the Master went,
Should not the servant tread it still?

Go, labor on; ’tis not for naught;
Thy earthly loss is heavenly gain;

Men heed thee, love thee, praise thee not;
The master praises—what are men?

Go, labor on; enough, while here,
If He shall praise thee, if He deign
Thy willing heart to mark and cheer;
No toil for Him shall be in vain.

Go, labor on, while it is day,
The world’s dark night is hastening on;
Speed, speed thy work, cast sloth away:
It is not thus that souls are won.

Men die in darkness at thy side,
Without a hope to cheer the tomb;
Take up the torch, and wave it wide—
The torch that lights time’s thickest gloom.

Toil on, faint not, keep watch, and pray;
Be wise the erring soul to win;
“Go forth” into the world’s highway,
“Compel’”’ the wanderer to come in.

Toil on, and in thy toil rejoice ;
For toil comes rest: for exile, home;
Soon shalt thou hear the Bridegroom’s voice,
The welcome word, ‘Behold, I come! ’?
H. B.
——_+ +o

Wrapped In A Flag.

In one of our exchanges we read the follow-

ing story: During the Cuban war a man was’

arrested by the Spanish soldiers as a spy. He
was by birth an Englishman and had become
a citizen of the United States; so that he had
a claim upon two of the most powerful nations
on earth. ‘The Consuls of both Governments
tried to have him set free; but in vain. He
was tried by court-martial, sentenced to death,
and led forth to be shot like a dog. His grave
his coffin was placed beside it, his
oldiers stood a few paces
nted at his
d held the

was dug,
arms were tied, the 8 é
from him with loaded muskets pol
breast, and the officer in comman

handkerchief that was about to fall as the sig-
nal to fire, when the consuls rushed forward
from the crowd of spectators, and each threw
around the doomed man the flag of his country.
Instantly the guns were lowered, and he who
was ‘‘as good as dead”’ was saved, simply and
only because he was wrapped in the flags that
linked him to the honor of two great nations.
The balls could not reach his body without first
piercing the flags of the mighty powers that
were thus pledged to his protection.

From this story we may see the way in which
the sinner is saved from ‘‘everlasting burnings.’’
By nature he is ‘‘dead in trespasses and sins,.’
(Eph. 2, 1); ‘condemned already,’ (John
8, 18). The broken law demands his punish-
ment; for it is written, ‘“‘Cursed is every one
that continueth not in all things which are
written in the book of the law to do them,”
(Gal. 3, 10). Sin demands the payment of its
wages in death, and Satan claims the helpless
wretch as his prey. No created being can res-
cue the condemned sinner. ‘‘None of them
can by any means redeem his brother, nor give
to God a ransom for him,’’ (Ps. 49, 7).

But the moment the convicted sinner turns
his eyes with a trustful look to Jesus, the
blessed Saviour throws around him the beauti-
ful robe of his own merits, and eyery claim is
met, every accuser is silenced. The law asks
nothing more; for Jesus has fulfilled its de-
mands and has borne its curse. Justice is per-
fectly satisfied, sin is atoned for, and Satan
slinks away frightened from the blood-red ban-
ner of the cross. ‘‘It is God that justifieth.
Whois he that condemneth?”’ (Rom. 8, 88. 34).

‘And lest the shadow or a spot
Should on our souls be found,

He took the robe the Saviour wrought,
And cast it all around.”

From the very moment we trust in Christ,
God is for us, who can be against us??? (Rom.
8, 31.) Well may the happy believer sing,

¢‘}{ad I an angel’s holiness,
Id throw away that beauteous dress,
And wrap me up in Christ.”

——~- 2-0 +

Gop has his eye on your heart; your tongue
cannot deceive Him.

Lost in Sight of Home.

A few months ago, during one of the severe
storms that visited Colorado, a young man per-
ished in sight of home. In his bewilderment
he passed and repassed his own cottage, to lie
down and die almost in range with the ‘light
in the window,’ which his young wife had
placed there to guide him home. All alone
she watched the long night through, listening
in vain for the footsteps that would come no
more; for, long before the morning dawned,
the icy touch of death had forever stilled that
warm, loving heart. The sad death was made
still sadder by the fact that he was lost in sight
of home. How many wanderers from the
Father's house are lost in sight of home, in the
full glare of the Gospel light! They have the
open Bible, overflowing with its calls and
promises, the faithful warnings from the pul-
pit, the manifestations of God’s providence, all
tending to direct their steps heavenward, and
yet from all these they turn away, waiting for
the more convenient season, and are lost at last
in sight of the many mansions.—Forward.

o-oo

The True Motive of Service.

When a great citizen of Florence lay dying
of the plague, deserted by his courtiers, aban-
doned by his family and friends, he appealed
to a crowd under the window for some office
of charity. ‘‘No,’’ said one, ‘‘you are not rich
enough to buy us. We will not give life for
gold.’”? But up started a young man, and
rushed through the crowd, exclaiming: “I will
come in to you, not for money, but for grati-
tude; for I am one of those you saved from
the death-block.’’ That is the language of true
Christian love. It says to Christ: ‘‘I will come
to Thee, not for a great name, not for reward,
not for praise, but because I am one thou hast
saved from death.’

——————_ —- oe

By putting on Christ you will put off the
love of this world; you will live above the
world while you live in it.