The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1888, Page 17

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Che Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHILY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SyNODICAL CONFERENCE oF NorTH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., a8 second-class matter.

Vol. X.

“Yet There is Room.”

Yet there is room! room in His house to fill,
Though countless hosts appear;
See, at His table vacant places still,
Oh! waiting guests, draw near!
Forsake your vain and fading pleasures,
And take His offered, boundless treasures,
Yet there is room!

Yet there is room! The many ransomed there
Suffice not for His love;
He longs that every one His grace would share,
His saving mercy prove;
For still He stands with sinners pleading,
His voice in heaven still interceding,
Yet there is room!

Yet there is room! Oh sinner, pause again,
Think of this call once more;
Or is your heart so closed, that Christ in vain
Stands knocking at the door?
All His long-offered love discarded,
Himself a stranger disregarded,
Who finds no room?

Yet there is room! Oh sinner, hear it still,
And then the words repeat,
Come, feeble, weak, despairing if you will,
Come to the Saviour’s feet.
Say, ‘‘Jesus, give! in full surrender,
I come my worthless heart to tender—
An empty room.’?

Yet there is room! When earth can give no more
A dwelling to her guest
Thank God! the Christian sees a brighter shore,
A home of endless rest.
It is enough, when death is nearing,
This blest assurance to be hearing,
Yet there is room!

Yet there is room! a heavenly dwelling-place,
How infinitely wide!

There rests the soul, beholding Jesus’ face,
And it is satisfied.

The flock who follow Him through sadness,

Are gathering there in holy gladness,

Yet there is room!

Selected.
—_—2 <0

The Work of the Holy Ghost.

Christ finished the work of our redemption.
He tovk our place under the law and suffered
and died in our stead. Thus salvation from sin
and from eternal death was secured for all men.
But this salvation must be brought to us and
must be taken by us as our own if we are to

enjoy its benefits. A treasure of which you
know nothing and which does not become your
own personal possession will do you no good.
The treasure of salvation which Christ procured
for you, must become your own. It is brought
to you in the Gospel and is taken by faith.
This, however, is not done by any power of
man; for man is ‘‘ dead in trespasses and sin.”
It is the work of the Holy Ghost. No man can
have a saving knowledge of Jesus as the Saviour
and Lord over all, unless the Holy Ghost work
this knowledge in him. The Bible says, ‘‘No
man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the
Holy Ghost,” 1 Cor. 12, 3.. In our Catechism
we therefore confess: ‘‘I believe that I cannot
by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus
Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the
Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, en-
lightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept
me in the true faith.”’ And in the Larger
Catechism Dr. Luther says: ‘‘Neither you,
nor I could ever know anything of Christ, nor
believe in Him and have Him for our Lord,
except as it is offered to us and granted to our
hearts by the Holy Ghost through the preach-
ing of the Gospel. The work is finished and
accomplished; for Christ, by His suffering,
death, resurrection, etc., has acquired and
gained the treasure for us. But if the work
remain concealed, so that no one knew of it,
then it were in vain and lost. That this treas-
ure, therefore, might not lie buried, but be
taken and enjoyed, God has caused the Word
to go forth and be proclaimed, in which He
gives the Holy Ghost to bring this treasure
home and apply it unto us.’’”

How important is this work of the Holy
Ghost! Without true faith in the Redeemer
we must perish in our sins. Only by the work
of the Holy Ghost through the means of grace
we are brought to this faith and kept in this
faith until the end. As we call to mind the
important work of the Holy Ghost, and praise
the mercy of our God for His mission, may we
also be urged to greater earnestness in the use
of the means of grace by which the Spirit works,
and to greater zeal in bringing those means of
grace to those who are still sitting in the dark-
ness of sin and death, without Christ and with-
out hope in this world:

St. Louis, Mo., May, 1888.

No. 5.

The Infidel and the Farmer.

The following occurrence was related in a
religious gathering in New York City:

Joseph Barker, an atheist, who for years
had been traveling through villages and cities
to spread his poisonous doctrines, one day
stopped in a little village where, in his usual
vehement manner, he was attacking the Word
and Christianity. Among other things he said:
‘‘Tf-a God really existed, do you not think that
He would concern Himself about me, since I
have made it the object of my life to oppose
Him and His Word. Look at me for a mo-
ment; behold my strength, always in good
spirits, always ready to raise laughter and
mirth, and as jolly a fellow as any one of you!
Think you not, if a God really existed, He
would in some way show His disapprobation of
my actions, and put a stop to my work?”’

Scarcely had these words been uttered when
a farmer, who was present, arose and spoke as
follows:

“T have a little dog at home that barks at
everything he sees; even the moon, when it as-
cends the clear blue skies, does he salute with
his continual barking. And the moon contin-
ues to shine without taking any particular no-
tice of the brute’s barking. Just so with the
speaker whom you have just heard. He has
barked, and he barks at and rebels against the
Almighty, as my little dog does at the moon.
And what does God do? Why, He maketh
His sun to rise on the evil and on the good and
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Very patient is He and slow to anger, because
He has an eternity before Him. But a day is
coming, when an account must be rendered by
all the children of men, as the Scriptures write.
“But thou, O man, dost thou think to escape
the judgment of God, or dost thou despise the
richness of His patience and goodness, dost
thou not know that the goodness of God leadeth
thee to repentance?’’ Rom. 2,34. These simple
but convincing words left a deep impression
upon the audience. And the testimony was
not borne in vain. Barker afterwards con-
fessed his errors, humbled himself; and ended
his earthly career proclaiming the blessed Gos-
pel of the Saviour of the world. 2