The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1892, Page 9

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heran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PosiisHEeD BY THE EvanorticaL Lurueran SynopicaL Conrerence or Norra AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XIV.

St. Louis, Mo., March, 1892.

No. 3.

“Ve Are My Witnesses.”
Tell me, pilgrim, faint and weary,
Traveling o’er this pathway dim,
Are you shedding light around you,
Are you witnessing for Him?

Do you try to tell the story
Of the precious Saviour’s love?
Are you hungering and thirsting
Evermore your love to prove?

Are you seeking out the lost ones
Whom the Master died to win?
Are you showing them the fountain
That can wash away their sin?

Are you looking by the wayside
For the weary ones who fall?
Do you take them to the Saviour

Who has promised rest for all?

Do you love to read the Bible—
Is it precious to your soul?
Are its treasures growing richer

As you travel toward the goal?

Do you love to talk of Jesus
More than all the world beside?
Does it bring a holy comfort
With his people to abide?

Have you made a consecration

Of your time and earthly store?
If your all is on the altar,

Then the Master asks no more.

Thus, O pilgrim, should we. journey,
Showing forth the Master’s praise,
With our lamps all trimmed and burning,
That the world may catch their rays.
Selected.

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The Lenten Season.

The forty days before Easter are called
the Lenten Season. ‘This season is again at
our door. From the earliest periods of the
Church these forty days have been set apart
for meditation upon the sufferings and death
of our Saviour. ‘The Lutheran Church still
observes this beautiful custom. In this sea-
son of the year she calls upon all her mem-
bers to. go with the suffering Saviour on His
way of sorrows from Gethsemane to Calvary,
and to contemplate with contrite and prayer-
ful hearts the great work of the only Mediator
between God and man. We know that the ob-
servance of the Lenten season is not ordered

by God. No one, however, can question the
usefulness and appropriateness of devoting a
certain time of the year to the special con-
templation of the sufferings and death of
Christ. . From the first book of the Bible to
the last, Christ’s sufferings and death are
pointed out as the very heart of the Gospel.
The redemption of the sinful world by the
blood of the Redeemer runs like a scarlet
thread through the entire Word of God.
The right observance of the Lenten Season
will surely be attended with great spiritual
blessings. He who thinks light of sin can
learn its greatness from the bitter sufferings
of the Holy One. The sin-hating God saw
His sin-bearing Son and poured upon Him the
vials of His wrath. What a horrible thing sin
must be, since it brought upon Christ that
great agony and shameful death upon the
cross! How great must be God’s wrath over
sin, since He spared not His beloved Son
when He saw Him laden with the sins of the
world! .
From the sufferings and death of Christ we

learn also the greatness of God’s love. Why,

did Christ suffer and die? There was no sin
in Him. No. But there were sins on Him.
These sins were our sins. ‘‘The Lord hath
laid upon Him the iniquity of us all,’’ says
the Bible. And again the Bible says, ‘‘He
bore our sins.’’? And what moved God to send
His Son into this world to bear our sins and
to suffer and die in our stead? The Bible
says, ‘‘God so loved the world that He gave
His only-begotten Son, that whosoever be-
lieveth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.’’ Christ loved us, and there-
fore gave Himself for us and redeemed us
from everlasting woe. Was ever love like this?
Such love must melt the sinner’s heart and
move him to trust in that Saviour for forgive-
ness of sin and life everlasting. The sinner
may rest assured that the loving Saviour, who
suffered and died for the salvation of sinners,
will in no wise cast out them that come to Him.

The more we come to know this great love
of God, the more shall we be moved to make
known the Gospel of His love to those that still
sit in the darkness of sin and in the shadows
of death. We shall more and more love Him

who loved us first, and this love will be the
great motive power and incentive to mission-
work. ‘Thus the right observance of the Lenten
Season will also awaken and intensify the mis-
sionary spirit in all our churches.

——> + 0a >

Look to Christ.

Looking at the natural sun weakens the

eye; but the more we look at Christ, the Sun
of Righteousness, the stronger and clearer will
the eye of faith be.
you will love Him, and live on Him and for
Him.
that He gave Himself for you, that you may
be saved not only from the guilt of sin, but
also from its present power over you. %
how much He loved you—how much He suf-
fered for you, and you will loathe sin in every
form. Love to read the Scriptures—they tes-
tify of Christ.
carried about ‘‘with every wind of doctrine’’?
Be occupied with Christ. The ‘‘Rock of ages’’
is a sure foundation —‘‘the same yesterday,
to-day, and forever.’’
weary you, and its cares threaten to over-
whelm, look unto Him who says, ‘‘Come unto

Look but at Christ, then

Are you tempted to sin? Remember

Think

Are you in danger of being

Do the trials of life

me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest.”’

Sincerity Not Enough.

The popular saying is: ‘‘It makes no dif-

ference what a man believes, just so he is sin- |

cere.”? Solomon had a different saying. He
says, ‘‘There is a way that seemeth right unto’
aman, but the ends thereof are the ways of
death.’? The words of the wise man hold the

truth; the popular saying teaches a hurtful —

lie. A man’s sincerity will not save him from
the evil consequences of believing a falsehood.
To believe-in a lie in moral and spiritual things
is hurtful to my soul's interest, however sincere
I may be. Itis truth that saves, not sincerity.
Christ’s prayer was that men might be sancti-

fied through the truth, not sincerity. Thetruth ;

blesses; falsehood damns. The truth makes
free; falsehood brings bonds and shackles.
Away with the hateful error—that sincerity
will answer for truth! God has not so spoken.