The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1892, Page 41

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

: ! A. MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

= PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHEeRAN SyNnopicaL CoNnFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XIV.

St. Louis, Mo., November, 1892.

No. 11.

“1 Am.”

I am the door.
None other can there be.
He who would enter heaven
Must come by Me.
I suffered death, and bore
Sin’s weight.
I am the door.

I am the way,
The only way to heaven.
He who would journey thence
Must be forgiven.
My cross, by night, by day,
Proclaims
I am the way.

I am the truth.

Canst thou My Word receive?-
“The truth shall make thee free,”’
And thou shalt live.

For old age, and for youth,
For all,
I am the truth.

And I am light.
I manifest man’s sin;
And when he owns his state,
I enter in.
Where darkness was, the bright
Light shines.
I am the light.

Se And I am love.
I shed on Calvary
My own life’s blood, to wash
Man’s sin away.
Yea, ’twas his need did move
My heart,
For I am love.

Yea, I am life.
Who trusts in Me, I’ll give
Him life. ‘“‘Though he were dead,
2 Yet shall he live.”
Here endeth death and strife:
For aye,

I am the life.
H. McD.

—__— oo a

Beware of the Refuges of Lies!

The prophet Isaiah says, ‘‘The hail shall
sweep away the refuge of lies.’”

“The day of judgment will be a terrible day

to those that seek safety for their souls in

z “refuges of lies.”? The terrible hail of God’s

wrath will sweep all those refuges away.

Nothing will remain to shelter the soul of the
wretch who trusted in them. There is but
one place of security for the soul when earth
is passing away, and that is in the wounds of
Jesus — the glorious ark of safety. All others
must perish.

Many think because they have not com-
mitted any great crime, they are fitted to
‘meet God. ‘They think their good works,
their virtue and morality constitute a safe
refuge-for their souls. Refuge of lies! How
the hail of God’s wrath will sweep this away!
Paul tried this refuge in the days of his blind-
ness; but, when his eyes were opened, he
saw how false was the hope he rested in, and
he forsook it to take his place as a sinner,
deeply convinced of his own utter depravity,
at the feet of a crucified Saviour. The Bible
plainly says that all have sinned and that one
sin makes the sinner just as guilty as if ten
thousand crimes had stained his soul. By the
deeds of the law no flesh living-can be justi-
fied; so the sooner the soul flies from that
refuge of lies, the better for its eternal welfare.

There are others who trust in their good
feelings. They attend meetings where their
feelings are excited. They mistake these feel-
ings for true living faith; they mistake their
excitement for that new birth of the soul with-
out which no man shall see the kingdom of
God. They make their excited feelings a
refuge of lies to their own souls.

There are others who, rejecting Christ, pre-
tend to flee to the general mercy of God.
Refuge of lies! How the hail of God’s wrath
will sweep that away on the day of judgment!
Remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ:
‘tNo man cometh unto the Father but by Me.”’
God’s mercy is to be found in Jesus only. If
you meet God in any way save through faith
in Jesus He must prove a consuming fire. He
is a holy God and you areasinner. In Christ
only has God been reconciled to a sinful world.

To trust in any mercy of God that has not
been revealed in Jesus, is to build upon a
foundation of sand and must prove in the end
a refuge of lies.

Others trust in a half Saviour. They think
to trust partly in Christ and partly save them-
selyes. Refuge of lies! The merits of no half

Saviour will be accepted as a plea on that
great day of judgment.

There is only one
Saviour — Jesus Christ. And He is no half
Saviour. No. He says, ‘‘I am the way.’? He
does not say, I am half the way. No. He
says, ‘‘I am the way.’’. He is the whole way
to heaven. He must be taken as the Saviour
from all sin. He must be trusted, not for
a half salvation, but for a full salvation.

Dear reader, beware of the refuges of lies.

The day of judgment is coming, and the hail

storm of God’s wrath will then sweep away
every refuge of lies like the hail storm sweeps
away the autumn leaves in the forest. Jesus
is the only true refuge for your soul. Put
your trust in this Saviour only, and you will
be eternally secure. His coming again on
the great day of judgment will be to you the.
glorious fulfillment of His sweet promise:
“I will come again, and receive you to my-
self; that where I am ye may be also.”’

1 Will Tell It.

Many a physician has gained his practice
by one patient telling others of his cure. Tell
your neighbors that you have been to the hos-
pital of Jesus, and been restored, though you
hated all manner of meat, and drew near to
the gates of death, and, maybe, a poor soul
just in the same condition as yourself will say,
““This is a message from God to me.’’ Above
all publish abroad the Lord’s goodness, for
Jesus’ sake. He deserves your honor. Will
you receive His blessing, and then, like the
nine lepers, give Him no praise? Will you be
like the woman in the crowd who was healed
by touching the hem of His garment, and then
would have slipped away? If so, I pray that
the Master may say, ‘‘Somebody hath touched
me,’’ and may you be compelled to tell the
truth, and say, ‘‘I was sore sick in soul, but
I touched Thee, O my blessed Lord, and I |
am saved, and to the praise of the glory of
Thy grace, I will tell it, though devils should
hear it; I will tell it, and make the world
ring with it, according to my ability, to the
praise and glory of Thy saving grace.””