The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1890, Page 29

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SynopicaL CONFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XII.

St. Louis, Mo., August, 1890.

No. 8.

The Service.

“He that is {nithful in that which is least, is faithful also

in much.’?

I can not do great things for Him
Who did so much for me;

But I would like to show my love,
Lord Jesus, unto Thee.

Faithful in very little things,
O Saviour, may I be.

There are small things in daily life
In which I may obey,

And thus may show my love to Thee;
And always — every day —

There are some little loving words,
Which I, for Thee, may say.

There are small crosses I may take,
Small burdens I may bear;

Small acts of faith, and deeds of love,
Small sorrows I may share,

And little bits of work for Thee—
I may do everywhere.

So I ask Thee, Lord, to give me grace —
My little place to fill;

That I may ever walk with Thee,
And ever do Thy will,

And in each duty, great or small,
I may be faithfal still.

i

A well spent Life.

Martin Boos is said to have been led into the
light of the Gospel in a strange way. He was
a sincere man, striving to merit heaven by
good works, when he visited one day a dying
woman noted for her piety. He said to her
that she must find great comfort in looking
back upon a well spent life, ‘‘I do,’’ she re-
plied, ‘‘very great comfort that robs death of
its sting. Not, however, in looking back upon
my well spent life, for that has been full of
failure; but in looking back upon the well
spent life of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ.’’ It gave the young man a new thought
and power, and ever after he spent his life in
making known the grace of Him who spent
His life in doing the will of God and suffered
death upon the cross for the sins of the
world.

There has never been but one perfectly well
spent life on earth. Jesus, the God-Man, is the

only One of whom it can be truthfully said that
He was “‘holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate
from sinners.” All others must cry with the
psalmist, ‘‘Enter not into judgment with thy
servant; for in thy sight shall no man living
be justified,’ Psalm 148, 2.

All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;
and it is wonderful that Christians at least do
not leap for joy to know that they can even
now stand in the spotless righteousness of Christ
before the throne of God. The less we think
of self and the more we think of Him who
died upon the cross, the more acceptable we
will be to the Father, who twice broke the
silence of heaven to say of Jesus, ‘“This is my
beloved Son.” *

never tells us:to be successful, but faithful, and
He cares nothing for success that is purchased
at the expense of faithfulness. Noah toiled
a hundred and twenty years in vain, as men
say, but he has been reaping a rich reward for
four thousand years. Moses and Elijah had a
sorrowful time of it in their service down here,
but their hearts ached no more when they ap-
peared in glory upon the mount of transfigura-
tion. It is our part to see to it that whatever
we do springs from faith in Christ and out of
sincere and steadfast desire to honor Him, and
we calmly rest upon His own word, ‘‘He that
reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit
unto eternal life; that both he that soweth and
he that reapeth may rejoice together,’ John
4, 36. So the Holy Ghost cheers the heart of
the tired with the word, ‘‘Let us not be weary
in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap,
if we faint not,’’ Gal. 6, 9.

Conformity to the World.

The Bible warns all Christians against con-
formity to this world. It says, “‘Be not con-
formed to this world,’’ Rom. 12,2. The world
consists of those who are unregenerated; and
we are not to have their aims, nor to adopt
their principles, nor to imitate their ways, nor
to follow their customs, nor to admire their
tastes, nor to engage in their pleasures. The
maxim of the Christian is, “God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me, and I unto the world,’’ Gal. 6, 14.
It is serious business to disregard this con-
fession. ‘‘Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know
ye not that the friendship of the world is en-
mity with God? Whosoever therefore will be
a friend of the world is the enemy of God,’’
James 4, 4. There are thousands who sneer
at this as out of date; nevertheless the word
of the Lord abideth forever, “‘If any man love
the world, the love of the Father is not in him.’’
1 John 2, 15.

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The Judge.

Paul saw in the cross a vindication of divine
justice. Where else can the justice of God be
seen 80 clearly as in the death of God Himself,
in the person of His dear Son? If the Lord
Himself suffers on account of broken law, then
is the majesty of the law honored to the full.
Some time ago a judge was called upon to try
a prisoner who had been his companion in his
early youth. It was a crime for which the
penalty was a fine, more or less heavy. The
judge did not diminish the fine; the case was
clearly a bad one and he fined the prisoner to
the full. Some who knew his former relation
to the offender thought him somewhat unkind
thus to carry out the law, while others admired
his impartiality. All were surprised when the
judge quitted the bench and himself paid every
farthing of the penalty. He had both shown
his respect for the law and his good will to the
man who had broken it; he exacted the pen-
alty, but he paid it himself. So God hath done
in the Person of His dear Son. He has not
remitted the punishment, but He has Himself
endured it. His own Son, who is none other
than God Himself, has paid the debt which
was incurred by human sin.—C. 8. ~

“Be not weary in well-doing.”

These words we find in 2 Thess. 3,13. Some-
times we are ready to faint, because we see 80
little fruit of our honest efforts to do good;
but we must remember that the Lord Jesus