The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1893, Page 2

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_ says on the daily reading of the dear Bible.

_ with fervent prayer, I have very devoutly read

“and joy in my soul, so much more power to
‘fight against sin, the world, and the devil, so

The Lutheran Pioneer.

an ae

5 7 i yening my last em-| Him, and writing Him into our very heart,
i East. i my Arst,jand)injthe evening ™y : a Tt.
The Wise Men of the ployment, or I should rather say, itis my first} And’ to have this dear Saviour so near our

Our picture is a
see the wise men of the East worshipping the] little time through th

new-
precious gifts. These wise men were Gentiles, | t

n Epiphany picture. Wejjand last pleasure; and as often as I have a/ eyes, and in our heart, is, after all, the high-
e day, as often as the la-| est joy and blessedness this earth can give us,

born Saviour and presenting to Him their} bors of my calling make me very tired, I go| We listen to every one of His blessed words;
o my dear Bible, and I never lay it aside, | we see, as it were, with our own eyes, all the

and therefore the Epiphany festival teaches} without being gladdened, refreshed, strength-| gracious deeds of His merciful love; and it
us that the Saviour came, not only for the}ened and comforted, in my inmost heart; in| seems almost, as if we saw Him walking be-
Jews, but also for the Gentiles. God so loved} short, I could not, and would not like to live fore us, and as if He was preaching before
the world that He gave His only-begotten Son ;| in this world—I could not stand it in this sin- | our very eyes; and everything He does and
and the angel said to the shepherds of Judea, } ful world, without my dear, precious Word of| says, is so exalted and glorious, so lovely and
“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great} God. When my faults and imperfections press| pleasant, so full of love and compassion, so

joy which shall be to all people.’ Therefore} heavily on me, when my sins grieve me, when
He was manifested also to the Gentiles, and| my soul is in great need of comfort, I go to
afterwards gave the command: ‘‘Go ye into! my dear Bible. When the sins of other men,
all the world, and preach the Gospel to every | especially the sins of my congregation tor-
creature.”’ Every human being has an inter-| ment me, when the disobedience and hard-
est in the great salvation which is in Christ| ness of heart of those for whose souls I am
Jesus and in Him only. Therefore
those who have found the Saviour
should be active in the work of making
Him known to all people. If you can
not go and bring the saving Gospel to
those that have not yet heard it, bring
your gold that others may be sent and
supported in the missionfield. When
we see the wise men presenting their
gifts to the Saviour, we are especially
reminded to bring our gifts, to fill the
missionary treasury, that the unsearch-
able riches of Christ may be made known
to those that still sit in the darkness
and misery of sin. May the Epiphany
season stir our hearts to increased mis-
sionary efforts!
<<. 9 <a 0

Read the Bible Daily.

- It is said of the Bereans that they
*tsearched the Scriptures daily,’’ Acts
17,11. And for this the Holy Spirit
calls them ‘‘noble.’”’ All Christians
should be such noblemen of God. Our
spiritual life must be sustained, and daily|laboring with such faithful love; when the
too. The Word of God is the Bread of Life. | public offences given by worldliness and love
Every day of the year we need to feed on this| of sin, in spite of all my heartfelt entreaties
living bread. Let me tell you what the late/ and exhortations, return again and again, and
Rey. L. Harms, the great missionary laborer, | fill me with the deepest grief, and press out
tears and sighs, I go to my dear Bible; and
so I do in all things, in joy and sorrow, in
grief and care, in weakness and in need, and
the Bible helps me to bear all things, and to
overcome all things, to believe all things, to
hope all things, and to endure all things. He
who does not read the Bible every day, does
not know at all what an unspeakably glorious
treasure we have in this precious Word of God.

I do so with the whole Bible, with the Old
and with the New Testament, for the whole
Bible is God’s Word, and given by inspira-
tion of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness. But, before all other parts,
the Holy Gospels are always of special im-
portance and preciousness to me, because
they always bring the Lord Jesus so near to
one, painting Him so that our eyes can see

He says:

A devout reading of the Bible, accompanied
by prayer, is not only my daily occupation,
but my daily highest joy and pleasure. I know
right well, how very needful and useful this
daily reading of the Bible is forme; for when,

the Bible, I always have so much more peace
uch more hating of all sin, so much more

slight in all thatis good, so much more light
‘clearness of understanding, so much more

pure, so holy and beautiful, that the heart is
ready to burst with joy, and the eyes to over-
flow with tears of gratitude, that we have such
a Saviour, who is-so great and mighty, so
meek and lovely, so pure and holy, and yet
so full of grace and love; and then our knees
bend low in the dust, and the lips speak
out of the abundance of a devout heart,
saying: yes, ‘‘the Word was made flesh,
and we beheld His glory, the glory as
of the only-begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth.’’
++ o> oo

Letter to the “Pioneer.”

Dear Eprror:—Allow me a short
space in your paper to give a short
sketch of my history.

I was born at Williamsburg, Miss.,
on July 1, 1872.

My early life was spent in the midst
of Baptists and Methodists. I attended
the Graded School at Williamsburg sev-
eral years. When about seventeen years
old I entered Tuscoloosa Institute at
Tuscaloosa, Ala. There I remained
nearly two years. I then left there and
came to Charlotte, N. C., and entered
Biddle Institute. I have been there
during the last year. While at Char-
lotte I became acquainted with Dr. Bow-
man, and attended his church. He gave me
some instruction in the doctrines of the Lu-
theran Church. Soon afterwards I became
acquainted with the earnest Missouri mission-
ary Rey. N. J. Bakke of Concord, N. C., who
directed me further. As an outcome of this
last acquaintance I am at Conover, N. C.,
where I am receiving instruction from the fac-
ulty of Concordia College. I regret that I
did not have an opportunity earlier to attend
a Lutheran school, or receive instruction from
Lutheran teachers.

Here I hope to remain until I am able to
minister to the wants of my own race.

I want the good wishes and prayers of all
your readers that I may be able at some day
to take up this work among my own people.

Most truly Yours,
J. N. POPE,
Conover, N. C.
—_— —-o<P oe

Farru is to believe what we do not see, and
the end of this faith is to see what we be-
lieved. :