The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1894, Page 21

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Che Autheran Pioneer.

A MI

SSIONARY MONTHLUY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNODICAL CoNFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XVI. St

. Louis, Mo., June, 1894.

No. 6.

Jesus.

“There is none other name under cavan given ,tmong
men, whereby we must be saved,” Acts 4, 12.

Is thy heart of sin aweary?
Jesus is the sinner’s friend.
Do thy faithless friends forsake thee?
Jesus’ love is without end.
Thou wilt seck in vain for rest
Elsewhere than the Saviour’s breast.

Dost thou doubt if God doth love thee?
Hark! and let thy doubts be done:
“God so loved the world’ of sinners,
“That He gave His only Son,”’
That whoe’er in Him believe
Might eternal life receive.

Dost thou think, ‘‘Ah! well, perhaps so;
But there’s time enough for me.’’
This is only Satan’s whisper,
He’d be fain detaining thee.
Every hour that passeth by
Brings thee near eternity.

Friend, I pray thee, cease this folly,
And this trifling with thy God.
Jesus waits, with love and mercy,
Pleading still His own life’s blood.
How He died that thou might’st be
Glad for all eternity.

Jesus is the blessed Saviour,
And His heart is e’er the same.
His the love, the power, that saves us;
And “‘there is none other name”
Which on earth has e’er been given
Whereby we may enter heaven.

H. McD.
2+ ao a

The Heavenly Seeker.

The Bible tells us that Jesus came to seek
and to save that which was lost. By nature
all men are lost. ‘‘All we like sheep have gone
astray, we have turned every one to his own
way,’’ saysthe prophet. If we were left to our
own way it would end in eternal damnation.
For that way is the way of sin, and ‘‘the wages
of sin is death,’’ says-the apostle. But Christ
came to seek and to save the lost. or this
He came into the world and took upon Him-
self our sins and bore the punishment which
was our due. ‘‘The Lord hath laid on Him the
iniquity of us all,’” says the prophet. Christ,
the good Shepherd, gave His life for the lost
sheep, thus redeeming them from sin and all

its woe. And this redemption is brought to
the lost ones. In the Gospel Jesus takes the
place of the seeker. We do not seek after
Him; He seeks after us. We do not go to
Him* by nature. Our nature is to go away
from Him, as with Adam when he hid away
from God. It is not the lost sheep from the
fold hunting up the shepherd, but it is the
shepherd seeking after the lost sheep. He
seeks it until he find it, and then, without one
word of reproach, without one angry frown,
without one sharp blow, he lays it on his shoul-
ders rejoicing. He is glad to get back his lost
one! Tenderly he bears it on his shoulders,
not to the wilderness, but home, yes, home!

Such a faithful Shepherd is Jesus, the
Heavenly Seeker. Huving laid down His life
for sinners, He seeks them through the Gos-
pel, offers them His redemption, and works
in their hearts that faith by which they be-
come His own. And over every lost one that
is thus found He rejoices and bears him on His
strong shoulders through this world of tribu-
lations and through the valley of the shadow of
death to His home of everlasting joy and bliss.

Happy are they whom Jesus has found! Are
you one of them, my dear reader? Oh, there
are many that will not heed the voice of the
Heavenly Seeker! They reject this loving
Saviour and are lost, because they will not be
saved. It is not the Seeker’s fault, it is their
own fault. Therefore to-day, if you hear His
voicé, harden not your heart!

death and sin; therefore forbear, be not afraid,
neither do thou faint, for truly thou hast no
cause; for Christ suffered death for thee, and
prevailed for thy comfort and defence, and for
that cause He sitteth at the right hand of His
Father to deliver thee. Therefore whosoever
thou art that art possessed with such heavy
thoughts, know for certain that the same is
a work and devising of the devil, for God hath
sent His Son into the world, not to affright,
but to comfort sinners. From hence these and
the like sentences are oftentimes expressed in
the Scriptures: Rejoice! Be joyful in the
Lord. Be not afraid. Be not discouraged.
Be of good comfort. I have overcome the
world.’’—From Luther’s Table Talk.

~~ + 0-6 - <a

The Rest of Faith.

We are only called upon to live by the mo-
ment. Christ does not bid us bear the bur-
dens of to-morrow, or next week, or next year.
Every day we are to come to Him in simple
faith and obedience, asking help to keep us and
aid us through that day’s work ; and to-morrow
and to-morrow, and to-morrow, through years
of long to-morrows, it will be the same thing to
do; leaving the future always in God’s hands}
sure that He can care for it better than we.
Blessed trust! that thus can confidingly say,
‘eThis hour is mine, with its present duty; the
next is God’s, and when it comes, Christ’s
presence will come with it.’” This i the rest
of faith, whose heavenly calmner so storms
disquiet. ~~

Christian Giving.

——+s>~+ ob or oe

A Downcast Man.

Luther, at Wittenberg, discerning a very
melancholy man (whom he formerly knew),
said unto him, ‘‘Ah, human creature, what
doest thou? Hast thou nothing else in hand
but to think of thy sins, on death and on dam-
nation? Turn thine eyes quickly away, and
look hither to this man Christ, of whom it is
written, ‘He was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered, died, was
buried, the third day arose from the dead and
ascended up_into heaven.’ ‘Wherefore dost
thou think all this was done? Verily it was
that thou shouldst comfort thyself against

That is a very strong argument in fayor of
Christian giving, which the apostle addresses
to the Corinthians, when he says, ‘‘For ye
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that,
though He was rich, yet for your sakes He be-
came poor, that ye through His poverty might
be rich.’ Since He, the Sovereign Lord of
all, became poor to make us rich, how willing

which He has given to us, for the help of His

was also in Christ Jesus.”’

should we be to contribute of our abundance, ~

poor saints? ‘*Let this mind bein you, which

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