The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1891, Page 42

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— Vw

* desires, a new will-power, and a new glorious

42 The Lutheran Pioneer.

(For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer.’’)

Faith.

What a wonderful, powerful, glorious thing
is faith. It brings the Lord of lords and the
King of kings into communion and ‘fellowship
with lost and condemned sinners. It cleanses
the heart. It purifies the soul and makes it a
dwelling-place for the Most High. It unites
the soul to Christ as a bride to her bridegroom,
and hence the church of God is, as Luther says,
“the Lady and Empress of heaven and earth.”’

Faith gives the sinner power to overcome
the world, to suppress evil desires, to mortify
the deeds of the body, to crucify the flesh, and
to resist the devil with all his pomp and power. | black, coarse hair, oblique eyes, high cheek
It gives the faithful believer the victory over| bones, and are of average height. Sume of
sin, death and hell. them have found their way into almost all our

O what a glorious thing is faith, that can cities, and most of my readers have seen speci-

raise fallen man to such great honor and dig-| ™°"S of these people.
nity and make him a conqueror over all his
enemies.

Faith teaches the sinner, the ungodly man,
to put away his sins, to give his heart to God,
and to love, because he is loved. It gives him
a new heart, i. e., a new spiritual sight and
hearing, which he did not have before, new

About China.

If we could dig a hole through the earth
we would come out in a country called China.
That is to say, China lies on the opposite side of
the earth from that on which we live. It is a
very large country, having more than 5,500,000
square miles of territory. It has 1700 cities.
If one would go through this country from north
to south he would travel about 1474 miles. It
embraces about one-tenth of the earth.

There are a great many people in China—
perhaps 400,000,000. About one-fourth of the
people in the world live in this country. The
Chinese have a parchment colored skin, very

light in his soul, so that he can see and realize,
that his sins are forgiven, that Christ is his
Saviour, and that he himself, who was lost, is
found and delivered from the jaws of death and
hell. And out of this blessed assurance flows
that sublime peace with God, that passeth all
understanding.

My dear reader, have you this faith, and
have you realized its power and its blessings?

Faith, we are told, is the assurance of things
hoped for, the proving of things not seen (Heb.
11, 1.); for faith clings to the Word of God
and firmly trusts in what He hath said. It is
not governed by the unsteady thoughts and
feelings of the human soul, but lifts itself up
into a higher sphere and simply trusts in the
Lord, being assured that He is both able and
willing to do as He hath said. Thus, through

7

CHINESE GIRL.

China is a very old country. Its history

poor souls no good. Yet these people still hold
Confucius as a sort of God—at least many of
them offer sacrifices to him.

The Chinese have millions of idols. They
have many strange customs, none more so, per-
haps, than that of worshipping their ancestors.
They will fall down and say prayers at the
tombs of their deceased parents and grand-
parents, and perform various rites at certain
seasons, as a means of worshipping their dead.

They do not seem to worry about death.
They have no concern about the life after
death. They trouble themselves more about
the coffin in which the body must rest after
death, than about their soul’s welfare. The
coffin is often secured, at least ordered, before
death. Sometimes a child shows his love for
his father or mother by presenting a coflin to
them.

Women are treated cruelly in China. They
are looked upon as being far below man. It is
considered almost a disgrace, at least a mis-
fortune, when a girl babe is born into the
family. Many female children are drowned,
buried alive, or killed in some other way. Some
of them are kept a while and then sold as
slaves, or as wives. A husband may beat,
starve, or sell his.wife. Surely, it is a great
blessing to us that we were not born in China.

But it is not so bad in China now, as it used
to be. Christians are at work, preaching to
these poor people the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Some eighty years ago missionary work was
begun in this land by Protestant Christians.
The Chinese did not trust the missionaries,
They thought that the white people wanted
to deceive them. There were many difficul-
ties to overcome before mission work could be
carried on successfully in this country. Among
other things, the Chinese language was hard to, ‘
learn. It was a difficult task to translate the
Bible into this Janguage. But this and other
difficulties have been overcome. ‘To-day there
are hundreds of missionaries at work in China,
and many thousands of these people believe in
the same Jesus, and look forward to the same
salvation that fills our hearts with joy and glad-

various trials and tribulations, the faithful be-
lieyer learns to prove the things not seen.

True faith is always active and can not re-
main quiet, because it is a living power from
above that enlightens the soul and gives it life
and joy and peace in the Holy Ghost, who is
the living Spirit of God and urges all those in
whom He dwells to be vigilant and active in
doing good. Hence faith works through love
and is the giftof God. It teaches us to love our
Bible, to love our church, to Jove our neighbor,
and to strive earnestly in all things to do His
will, who loved us and gave Himself for us.

‘Lord Jesus, Thou dost love me;
O spread Thy wings above me,
And shield me from alarm;
When Satan would devour me,
Let angels then sing o’er me,
*This child of God shall meet no harm.’??

oO.

dates back over four thousand years. When our ‘
land was covered with forests, and inhabited ness.—Jfissionary.
only by Indians, and when England and all ——> - -o -
Europe was the home of barbarians, China had :
a people about as learned and civilized as it True Definition of Christ.
has to-day. .
Might we, then, just as well have been horn} or, indeed, Christ is no cruel exactor, but
in China? No; for the Chinese know not God. |a forgiver of the sins of the whole world. Where-
They may be wise and clever, but they know | fore, if thou be a sinner (as indeed are we all),
nothing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Are they | set not Christ down upon the rainbow as a judge,
not to be pitied? They are heathens, although | but take hold of His true definition— namely,
not so depraved as other heathen nations. About | that Christ, the Son of God and of the Virgin,
2400 years ago there lived a great man inChina|is a Person not that terrifieth, not that af-
by the name of Confucius. He was ignorant of | flicteth, not that condemneth us of sin, not that
the true God, but he taught the people many |demandeth an account of us for our life of evil
good things. He taught them to obey their| passed, but hath given Himself for our sins,
parents and rulers, to be kind to one another, |and with one oblation hath put away the sins
and other things all of which were of use for|of the whole world, hath fastened them upon
this life alone. He taught them nothing that| the cross, and put them clean out by Himself.
could comfort them in death. He did their : Luther.