The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1893, Page 1

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Che Autheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LurnHERAN SyNopicaL CoNFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XY.

St. Louis, Mo., January, 1893.

No. 1.

Thoughts for the New Year.

The Lord is my Shepherd ; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in the green
pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the
paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for
Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they
comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the
presence of mine enemies ; ‘Thou anointest my
head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life: and I will dwell in
the house of the Lord forever.—Ps. 23.

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Something to Hold On By.

How loudly the flight of time speaks to us!
Another year is gone and eternity is nearer.
The new year might be our last year upon
earth. It will be well for us to have some-
thing to hold on by in our last hour.

A woman who had been a prominent lecturer
on infidelity came to her dying pillow. Being
much disturbed in her mind, her friends gath-
ered about her and exhorted her to ‘‘hold on
to the last.”’

‘‘Yes, I have no objection to holding on,’’
said the dying woman, ‘but will you tell me
what I am to hold on by?’’

These words so deeply impressed an infidel
standing by that he was led to renounce the
delusion.

False doctrine will not do ‘‘to hold on by”’
in the solemn hour of death.

“Father,”? said a young man as he lay dy-
ing, ‘‘I find eternal punishment, which I have
so long disputed, now to be an awful reality.””
At another time he said, ‘‘As soon as I am
dead, write to my friends that the doctrine we
have tried to propagate is an awful delusion—
that it forsook me on my deathbed.””

Said another under similar circumstances,
‘Ror several years past I have followed the
doctrines of Universalist preachers, and be-
lieved os they did; but TI find it all a delusion

now. ‘Tell my old friends not to trust in such
a refuge of lies, but to repent and believe in
the Saviour of sinners.’’

How different it was with that young Chris-
tian at whose dyingbed we stood some years
ago. ‘*O, how dearly I love you all,’’ he said.
““But I would rather be with Jesus. Lay me
straight in the bed, father, and cover me up,
and let me wait my Father’s time.’’ When
sight and hearing were growing dull, he seemed
not to recognize his friends, but on his father’s
asking, ‘‘My darling son, do you know Jesus ?’’
he answered with sudden animation, ‘‘Oh, yes;
oh, yes. I know Jesus! I have a steadfast
trust in Jesus, who has redeemed me, a lost
and condemned creature, purchased and won
me from all sins, from death and from the
power of the devil, not with gold or ‘silver,
but with His holy precious blood and with His
innocent suffering and death, so that I may be
His own, and live under Him in His kingdom,
and serve Him in everlasting righteousness,
innocence and blessedness, even as He is risen
from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.
This is most certainly true!’”

That was something by which he could hold
fast to the end. And such trust may we all
have on our dyingbed.

We Are Pilgrims.

We are Pirerims. Our years are spent
“like a tale that is told,’’ they flow by like
the passing stream. We have hardly got used
to writing 1892 at the head of our letters, when
we are already called upon to exchange it for
1893. Many a pilgrim has been called away
during the past year. It was the last year of
his life upon earth. Many a chair is empty at
the family table, and many a new grave casts
its shadow upon the path of life. Let us re-
member our days, for we are pilgrims.

WE ane Prrerms. ‘Yes,’ says the world-

ling, ‘therefore let us eat and drink and be

merry, for to-morrow we die.” Foolish man!
That is not the lesson to be learned. Death
does not end all.

judgment.’”
That eternity will be to man either an eternity
of woe or of happiness and joy.
we should ‘‘number our days, that we apply
our hearts unto wisdom.’’
by going on in sin.
sin and dies in sin, rejecting the only Saviour
of sinners, passes through the dark gates of
Death to the judgment-seat of God with all
his sins upon him.
holy God will hurl him into eternal damnation;
for ‘the that believeth not shall be damned,’’
says the Bible.
dom! Prepare to meet your God! Believe in
the Saviour, of whom the angel said to Joseph:
“Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall
save His people from their sins.’’ By faith in
Him you will have everlasting life and need
not fear death.
to the eternal joys of heaven; for Jesus says,

The Bible says, ‘‘It is ap-
pointed unto men once to die, but after this the

We are on the road to eternity.
Therefore

This is not done
The man who goes on in

The wrath of a just and

Apply your heart unto wis-

You will pass through death

‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth
my word, and believeth on Him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into.
condemnation, but is passed from death unto
life.””

We are Pirerims. There is comfort for
all true believers. Heaven is our home. We
are on our journey to that home above. Trav-
elers must often put up with bad lodging, they
must often pass over rough roads, and through
many a storm, and through many a dark and
dangerous place. So the path of our journey
may often be the path of sorrows, and troub-
les, and tribulations; still we may travel on
cheerfully. We are pilgrims and strangers in
this world. Our home is above. And every
true believer can look up to Jesus and say,
“Tam Zhy pilgrim.’”? There is sweet comfort
in this; for Jesus takes care of all those that
are His. He abides with them and gives them
eternal blessings and everlasting consolation.
So we joyfully travel on through the year 1893.
A few more days, or months, or years, and
then our wanderings will close, and we shall
come home, and ‘‘God shall wipe away all
tears from our eyes; and there shall be no
more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain; for the former
things are passed away.’”