The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1889, Page 29

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Che Autheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PouBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SyNopICAL CoNFERENCE oF NortTH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XI.

St. Louis, Mo., August, 1889.

No. 8.

The Work of Christ.

The work is done! the work is done!
The battle fought! the victory won!
And now, because the Saviour died,
All that believe are justified.

The work is finished! no deep cries,
No penitential tears or sighs,

Can peryect that which Christ has done;
It stands complete—it stands alone !

The work is finished! sinner, bring
With thee no works for offering!

It is the blood of .Christ alone
That can for our poor souls atone.

The work is done! it needs no more,
Christ’s death has opened heaven’s door.
“Only believe,” the Saviour cried,
Believe, and thou art justified.

Then, trembler, wait no longer, come!
Chase from thy anxious heart its gloom;
Rest on the work of Christ thy Lord,
Rest on His everlasting Word.

The work is done! the work is done!
The conflict fought! the battle won!
Cease, then, from aught to merit heaven;
Believe, and thou shalt be forgiven.

Who ever perished with his face
Toward that surest resting place—

The Cross of Christ? who ec’er was lost
That made His work his only boast?

The work is done! the work is done!
Christ hath eternal victory won

For all that will His peace receive,
Come, then, poor soul, receive—bvelieve !

The Prince of Glory’s work is done,
Accept it, sinner, for thine own;
And in the might of sins forgiven
Press onward to thy home in heayen.

Selected.
——_s +o or oe

Salvation.

What is salvation? It is deliverance or res-
cue from some danger or evil.

It is night: the business of the day is over,
the people have retired to rest; the great city
is asleep. But, hark! a strange, startling cry
comes, rudely breaking the deep calm. ‘Fire!

‘fire!’ and the alarm is followed by the sound
-of hurrying footsteps. We reach the burning
_ building. A crowd of people has collected and

they stand watching the house; but what can
they do? They think of those dwelling there,
quietly sleeping in their beds while the fire is
rapidly walling them in.

But there comes the fire escape. The people
give a shout, while the brave fireman places
the escape against the second floor. He quickly
mounts the ladder, throws up the window and
enters the room. He soon returns and bears
something in his arms. It is a little boy whom
he has carried out of bed. The boy is brought
down alive. He is saved.

Dear reader, the salvation about which you
read in your Bible, and sing so many beautiful
hymns, is likewise a deliverance, a rescue from
death—from a death a thousand times worse
than being suffocated in a burning house. It
is a rescue from sinking into the lake which
burneth with fire and brimstone—it is a salva-
tion from hell fire. And Jesus is the Saviour by
whom we have this salvation. He bore our sins
in order to rescue us from.eternal death. When
a sinner feels the burden of his sins—feels truly
sorry for them, sees that he is altogether bad,
that he cannot take away his own sins, cannot
make himself good, and so comes to God cry-

| ing out, ‘‘God be merciful to me a sinner!”’,

and believing that Jesus did really die upon
the cross for him, instead of him, to save him
—then the sinner enjoys the salvation offered
to him in the Gospel. He is rescued, he is
saved. ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved,” Acts 16, 31.

—_——s—-oaP oo

The Worst of the Lot.

In the early part of the reign of Louis XIV.
a German prince, traveling through France,
visited the arsenal at Toulon, where the galleys,
or convict-hulks, were stationed.. The comman-
dant, as a compliment to the prince’s rank,
said he was welcome to set free any one galley
slave. whom he should choose to select.

The prince, willing to make the best use of
the privilege, spoke to many of the convicts in
succession, inquiring why they were condemned
to the galleys.

as the causes of their being there. In fact,

Injustice, oppression, false ac-
cusations, were assigned by one after another

they were, according to their own representa-
tion, all injured and ill-treated persons. .
At last he came to one who, when asked the

same question, answered to this effect: ‘‘ Your

highness, I have no reason to complain: I have
been a very wicked, desperate wretch. I have
often deserved to be broken alive on the wheel.
I account it a great mercy that I am here.”

The prince fixed his eyes upon him, and, ina

tone of irony which the commandant readily
understood, said to this man, in hearing of the
others, ‘‘ You wicked wretch! it is a pity you
should be placed among so many bonest men;

by your own confession, you are bad enough to-

corrupt them all; but you shall not stay with
them another day.’’ Then, turning to the
officer, he said, in a lower voice, but firmly,
“This is the man, sir, whom I wish to be re-
leased.”’ A

‘‘And Jesus said, ‘For judgment I am come
into this world, that they which see not might
see; and that they which see might be made
blind.’ And some of the Pharisees which were
with Him heard these words, and said unto
Him, ‘Are we blind also?’ Jesus said unto
them, ‘If ye were blind, ye should have no
sin; but now ye say, We see; therefore your
sin remaineth.’ ’”

Dear reader, the way to salvation is toown .

you are lost; the way to forgiveness is to plead
guilty; the way to freedom is to confess you
are a slave. Jesus came ‘‘to heal the broken-
hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind.”

—_—-~ <a

It’s Only Father. -

It is related of three children, that during a
thunderstorm they were asked each to choose
a favorite text. One selected, ‘*The Lord of
glory thundereth,’”’ and being asked her rea-
son, said, ‘‘I once heard a great noise when I
thought I was all alone in the house; and I
was 80 frightened I screamed, and father's voice
called out, ‘Don’t be afraid, little Maggie, it’s
only father.’ And now when it thunders very
loud it always seems as if I heard God say,

‘Don’t be afraid, little Maggie, it’s only Father,’

and I don’t feel a bit frightened.”
: Nellie's Mission.