The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1890, Page 34

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34 The Lutheran Pioneer.

tell for his life how a blade of grass grows, nor| ministry, and their half dozen colleges have at
how he moves his finger, speak in a blasphe-| least 500 in course of preparation. It main-
mous way on the mysteries of the Bible. But] tains 1100 parochial schools, with 100,000 chil-
this need not surprise us, when we remember|dren: The secret of this unparalleled and
that ‘‘the natural man receiveth not the things | astounding success it becomes all Lutherans to
of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness | study and to ponder.
unto him; neither can he know them, because} There is no “dumb Dutch” characteristic
they are spiritually discerned’”’ (1 Cor. 2,14). | about our Missouri Lutherans. With $60,000
profit annually from their Publication House,
they must be selling quite a number of books
; : and circulating an immense issue of their pa-
Discouraging. pers. And this means that they are a reading
people. They may be largely made up of

For a year and a half appeals for more room| foreigners, whatever of good or evil is implied
at “Bethlehem” have been addressed to our|in that, but if we should candidly and kindly
fellow-Christians in general = well as to the study their ways and their marvelous doings,
Hon. Board of Missions in particular. Time} wo might occasionally learn a thing or two.
and again’ the latter has admitted the urgency $60,000 profits a year! Brethren, that means
of the case and replied: We know that your! nore than money !—Lutheran Evangelist.
claims are just, but regret to say that we have
not the means to come to your assistance. Thus
the progress of our work has been continually A sad Disease.
hampered, and then some of our friends throw
up their hands in holy horror, that the mission! There are many very bad diseases, and some
is not making any more headway. To tell the) of them have very strange symptoms. Some
truth, friends, we have all become very much| of the sick are worse in the night—some are
discouraged, and if matters are to continue at| worse in the day time, some are worse on par-
this rate, why—several thoughts flashed through | ticular days, and some are quite sure to be ill
our mind that would serve to finish the sen-| when work drives, and when it is very impor-
tence, but let every one supply, what he pleases. | tant that they should be well.
But what is worth being done at all, is worth} Zion’s Herald tells of a parsonage in Vermont,
being done well, and if our work is to prosper, | where little Eddie and Georgie heard their
we must be given more room and assistance, for! mamma say one cold Sunday morning:
we sadly need it. May the Lord who shed His) «J do not feel very well this morning. I have
own precious blood to save a perishing world| » very hard cold, and my lungs feel so bad and
from sin, death, and Satan fill the hearts of all! sore I think I shall not be able to go to church
who realize that their immortal souls have been | to-day. I shall be very sorry to stay at home.”
purchased to be Christ's at so tremendous an} he two little boys heard what their mamma
expense, may he fill them with an ardent zeal| said, and remained in bed after she went down
and stir them up to ever greater activity in| stairs, talking together. After a little time
this noble cause and add His blessings to our| Georgie, the younger, appeared at the foot of
efforts to His own everlasting glory. H. B. | the stairs and said:

(Our worthy missionary will, we hope, be} “Mamma, I don’t feel very well to-day! And
encouraged since the Synodical Conference has| Eddie don’t feel very well; need he go to church

resolved to erect new school-buildings for our] ,,_ , I ;
Colored Mission in Néw Orleans and to call today? He's got the head-ache, and the neck

more laborers into the mission field.—Eprror.) ache, a-n-d the back-ache, a-n-d stomach-ache,
and a-n-d leg-ache, a-n-d a-n-d’’ — calling to

site Reem Gees Eddie up-stairs, ‘‘What is it, Eddie??? Eddie ©
Those Missourians. replies, “‘Hund-ache!’’ — “Oh, yes, hand-ache;
that’s all! Need Eddie and I go to church to-
The total income of the Missouri Synod in| day?”
1889 for general beneficence, amounted to| Poor children! What a dreadful thing to
$160,000. ‘The great majority of these Lu-| have all these diseases come on so suddenly
therans came s few days ago from Germany,|Sunday morning! And we are afraid poor
strangers, and in humble circumstances, settling, | George will have a touch of tongue-ache and
for the most part, in the wilderness, and en-| heart-ache if he tells such stories as that.
during indescribable hardships and privations,| We hope none of our readers will ever have
but they were earnest Christians, holding firmly | an attack of this disease. The true name of it,
to the old faith of the Church, and they had| we believe, is—Sunday sickness. Watch against
earnest and faithful shepherds who shrank from | the first symptoms.
no sacrifice, that they might preach the Gospel —_> =
to their countrymen and build upin America] Our Church assumes the name Evangelical,
the Lutheran Church. Less than fifty years| because it revived the knowledge of the Gospel;
ago this Synod was organized, and in 1889 it] and it does not reject the appellation Lutheran,
reported 1100 pastors, 1500 congregations, and| because it would not be ungrateful to the man
almost 300,000 communicants. Their two theo-| who first dissipated the clouds which obscured
logical seminaries have 350 candidates for the| the Gospel. .

Why Men do not believe.

A young reader of the PionEER asks us
whether the bad conduct of so many professed
Christians is not the main reason why many
men do not believe: Well, it is true, those
that profess to be Christians have a great re-
sponsibility resting upon them. Woe to them
if they give offense by their bad conduct.
Christians are therefore told to ‘‘walk in wis-
dom toward them that are without, redeeming
the time’”’ (Col. 4, 5). But the bad conduct
of professed Christians furnishes no excuse to
the unbeliever. And we would not say that
the bad conduct of professed Christians is the
main reason why men do not believe. The
main reason lies in the human heart. The root
of all infidelity is to be found in that corrupt
nature with which we are born into the world,
and of which it is’said in the Word of God,
‘The carnal mind is enmity against God; for
it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be” (Rom. 8, 7). The human
heart hates God, not the God the human heart
loves to invent and who has no existence out-
side of the human imagination; but the God
of the Bible, God in Christ, awakens the en-
mity and calls out the opposition of the un-
regenerate sinner. We are all naturally infidels
and remain infidels until born again by the
Spirit of God.

Springing out of this utterly bad and God-
hating nature, another reason why men do not
believe is to be found in the desire of men to
gratify their lusts, unhindered by the fear of
the holy Being revealed in the Scriptures.
‘‘This is the condemnation, that light is come
into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil’’
(John 3, 19). Such is the solemn statement
of the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it is said,
‘He knew what was in man’’ (John 2, 25);
and who declares that ‘‘out of the heart of men
proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications,
murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, de-
ceit, Jasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy,
pride, foolishness’’ (Mark 7, 21. 22). Many
reject the Bible because it so sternly condemns
such things.

Another reason why men do not believe is
found in the self-conceit of many men, how-
ever feeble in intellect. They think themselves
go very smart, but the Holy Ghost says they
‘hecame vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened: professing them-
selves to be wise they became fools,” (Rom. 1,
21. 22). Many a two-legged ass regards it as
a mark of superior intelligence to ridicule the
Word of God, and to blaspheme the Son of
God. ‘‘But these as natural brute beasts,
made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of
the things that they understand not; and shall
utterly perish in their own corruption’’ (2 Pet.
2, 12); “‘for it is written, I will destroy the
wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent’”’ (1 Cor.

_1,19). We hear many a man, who can not

—— =e ono

(For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer.’’)

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