The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1893, Page 33

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A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PusiisHeED BY THE EvANGELICAL LutHEeRAN SyNoDICAL CONFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XV. St. Louis, Mo., September, 18938. No. 9.

“| Have Chosen You.”

John 15, 16.

Oh, can it be, Lord Jesus,
That Thou hast chosen me,

So poor and so unworthy,
Thy very own to be;

To dwell amid Thy splendors,
To gaze upon Thy face,

And through unending ages
Thy matchless beauties trace?

Yes, yes, for Thou hast said it,
“‘T, I have chosen thee;”’
And with this sweet assurance
My heart makes melody.
Nought, nought Thy choice can alter;
From Thee [ ne’er shall part,
For 1 am Thine for ever;
My name is on Thy heart.

And now, while I am waiting
To meet Thee in the air,
Oh, fill my mouth with praises,
Oh, free my heart from care;
‘Much fruit’? let me be bearing,
In prayer be instant still,
And ever till Thou comest
Delight to do Thy will.

Oh, then will be the rapture,
Oh, then will be the song,
Oh, then will be the symphony
Of heaven’s angelic throng,
When Christ His bride, His chosen,
Unto Himself shall bring,
Without one spot or wrinkle,
Meet partner for the King.
Selected.

qm - oe

The Self- Righteous.

The self-righteous man will not come to
Jesus. He nurses the delusion that it is well
with him and does not feel the need of a
. Saviour. A man that is righteous in his own
eyes will not seek other righteousness and will
not accept it when it is offered. The self-
righteous man‘is a condemned sinner, but he
will not acknowledge his sins. He is on the
way to hell, but he will not believe it and
therefore rejects the Saviour. Such a man
must be brought to the knowledge of his sin
and to a sense of God’s wrath oyer sin before
he will accept the righteousness of Christ
offered to him in the Gospel. Therefore God
gives us His holy law to show us our sinful-

ness. When Miss Susan was scolded for the
untidiness of the room, she said: ‘It would
be clean enough, if it was not for the bright
sun, which is always showing the dirty cor-
ners.’’ So it is only when the word of God
shines into our hearts and reveals all the secret
chambers, that we realize our sinfulness and
rottenness. We then see that there is nothing
good in us, but that every imagination of the
thoughts of our hearts is only evil continually.
We then are brought to despair of our own
righteousness and see that we are on the road
to everlasting death. The precious- Gospel
news of a Saviour from sin and all its woe will
then be welcome news to us.

A lady in Dorsetshire, England, went to the
home of a sick man, Joe Whitbread by name.
She found him very ill.

After speaking with him for a few minutes
concerning his health, she turned the conver-
sation to his state before God. He unhesitat-
ingly declared that in that respect he was all
right, -as he had never injured any one in his
life, and was not afraid to die, altogether
evincing his state to be one of stubborn se/f-
righteousness.

Having heard all that he had to say without
making much‘answer, she proposed to read to
him a little from the Bible. He made no ob-
jection, and she accordingly opened her Bible
at Romans 8, 9, reading it as follows, very
slowly: >

‘ccWhat then? are we better than they?
No, in no wise; for we have before proved
both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under
sin’— except Joe Whitbread.”’

‘<As it is written, There is none righteous,
no, not-one’— except Joe Whitbread.’”

‘¢¢There is none that understandeth, there
is none that seeketh after God’— except Joe
Whitbread.”

‘«¢They are gone out of the way, they are
together become unprofitable; there is none
that doeth good, no, not one’—except Joe
Whitbread.”

‘**Now, we know that what things soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law; that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world may become guilty before
God’— except Joe Whitbread.”

‘«*Therefore by the deeds of the law, there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight’— except
Joe Whitbread.

‘**But now the righteousness of God with-
out the law is manifested, being witnessed by
the law and the prophets, even the righteous-
ness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all, and upon all them that believe; for
there is no difference’— except Joe Whit-
bread.’”

‘*¢For all have sinned, and come short of
the glory of God’— except Joe Whitbread.’’

When she came to the last of these verses
he cried out in great distress, ‘‘O, stop, stop,
ma’am!’’

She, affécting surprise, asked what was the
matter, remarking, ‘‘I am only putting to-
gether what God says and what you say. God
says ‘all have sinned’ ; and you say you have
not; so that must be ‘except Joe Whitbread.’ ””
Only a few more words passed, and she left.

The next time she saw him his face lighted
up with joy as he expressed his longing to see
her, that he might tell her how the word she
read to him opened his eyes to see his con-
dition as a sinner in the sight of God, and to
accept Jesus as his only Saviour from sin.

- “Joy and peace,”’ said he, ‘‘have filled my
heart since the hour I trusted in Jesus.’’

A few days-afterward he fell asleep, prais-
ing the name of Him who is the friend of sin-
ners, and who said, ‘‘I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.’”

——~+ oo >

Cling the Closer.

We take our little child in our arms out of
the bright gas-lighted parlor to carry it to bed.
The hall is dark, and almost unconsciously the
tiny arms tighten, the head nestles closer in
its trust, because we have come away from
the light. So God, for the sake of having us
cling more closely, sometimes carries us in the
dark. Perhaps it is a loss of property, or
the coldness of those who have been valued
friends. Perchance we have been misjudged,
or harshly criticised, or unappreciated. God
is carrying us in the dark. Do we cling closer
and trust more fully?