The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1893, Page 5

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHULUY.

Pusuisuep py tue Evanceuica, Lurneran SynopicaL ConFERENCE OF Nort AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XV.

St. Louis, Mo., February, 1893.

No. 2.

The Sin-Bearer.

Thy works, not mine, O Christ,
Speak gladness to this heart;
They tell me all is done,
They bid my fear depart.

Thy wounds, not mine, O Christ,
Can heal my bruised soul;

Thy stripes, not mine, contain
The balm that makes me whole.

Thy cross, not mine, O Christ,
Has borne the awful load

Of sins that none in heaven
Or earth could bear but God.

Thy righteousness, O Christ,
Alone can cover me;

No righteousness avails
Save that which is of Thee.

Thy righteousness alone
Can clothe and beautify;
I wrap it round my soul;

In this I’ll live and die.
Selected.

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Saved by Grace.

‘¢We are all as an unclean thing,’’ says the
Bible, ‘‘and all our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags.’? It does not merely say all our
wickednesses are as filthy rags, but all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and surely
we can not expect to buy heaven with a lot of
dirty rags. In our helplessness Jesus has
come in grace all the way to our place of guilt
and ruin. He has come to procure for us a
righteousness which will avail in the right of
God. For this purpose He suffered and died
in our stead. In the season of Lent we see
Him on His way of sorrows and sufferings.
We behold Him in great agony on the cross,
where He ‘tappeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself;’’? where ‘‘His ownself
bare our sins in His own body on the tree.”
Having thus answered every claim and. met
every demand that was against us, He tenderly
says to every sinner in the Gospel, ‘‘Whoso-
ever will, let him take the water of life freely.””
What does freely mean? It means for nothing.
We can not buy salvation. It has been pro-
cured for us by Christ and is given to us in
the Gospel for nothing. We are saved by

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grace, and by grace alone. The Bible says,
“By grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
not of works, lest any man should boast.’’
The end of our salvation is God’s glory. Itis
not that man may be exalted, but that in the
ages to come God may show the exceeding
riches of His grace.

Old aunt Judy knew what it is to be saved
by grace. She was a poor old colored woman,
living in a small and low cabin of rough boards,
and the only floor was the ground worn bare
and smooth. All her furniture put together
was worth less than five dollars. She was
very poor in this world’s goods, but she was
rich in faith. She found all her riches in the
Gospel, and never wished to be anything else
than ‘‘a poor sinner saved by grace.”

Aunt Judy was taken sick, and there was

no hope of her getting well again. A young
student of theology, who often visited the col-
ored folks in their cabins, came to see her on
her dying-bed. He found her quite happy at
the thought that she would soon be with her
“‘bressed Lord.’? He thought he would try
her thoroughly and said to her, ‘“‘Aunt Judy,
you will not think it unkind in me to say that
you are a poor, ignorant, old creature, and
nobody cares whether you live or die. When
you are gone, the overseer of the poor will
place your body in an unpainted coffin, and
bury it in the pauper’s corner of the grave-
yard, and there will not be even a plank to
mark where you lie. But God is a very great
God. He made the earth, and the sun, and
the moon, and the stars, and all that is in the
world; and He has millions of people to look
after; some of them rich and mighty. You tell
me you are sure He has saved your soul; but
what good could it do this great God to save
a worthless old sinner like you?”’
Aunt Judy understood the meaning of the
question in a moment, and looking up with
a smile and raising her hand, she answered
eagerly, ‘Ah, my boy, God is goin’ to point
the angels to me, and tell *em to see what His
grace can do.”

The student learned a good deal of theology
that day, and sat with bowed head beside the
dear old saint, as her soul passed away to her

heavenly home to bask forever in the smiles
of her beloved Redeemer. How well she had
learned the purpose of God in our salvation
as given by the apostle Paul: ‘‘That in the
ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us
through Christ Jesus.’’ (Eph. 2, 7.)

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Sincerity Not Enough.

The popular saying is: ‘‘It makes no differ-
ence what a man believes, just so he is sin-
cere.’? Solomon has 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 spiritual things is hurt-
ful to the soul’s interests, however sincere the
believer may be. It is the truth that saves,
not sincerity. Christ’s prayer was that man
might be sanctified through the tru¢h, not sin-
cerity. The truth 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.

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‘For Our Good.

A man walking on the railroad track when
the train was approaching was unceremoni-
ously pulled aside by a neighbor. At first the
traveler was a little disturbed and disposed
to criticise the unceremonious method of his
friend, but when he came to realize the nature
and imminence of his danger, his heart over-
flowed with gratitude for the benevolent deed.
God often has to deal with us in a summary
way. He sees our danger, and loves us too
well to allow us to travel on in our chosen
path. In thwarting and disappointing our
most cherished purposes, the goodness of our
Heavenly Father is most conspicuous. He
turns us away from a danger we did not see,
and helps us to a good we had not come to”
appreciate. :