The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1894, Page 29

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ol. XVI.

Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

Pusuisuep BY THE EyANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNoDICAL CONFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

St.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Louis, Mo., August, 1894.

No. 8.

“Take no Thought for the Morrow.”

“The Christian should be like a little bird that sits on its
twig and sings, and lets God think for it.’—Luther,

Like Luther’s bird, I sit and sing,
Not. knowing what the day may bring;
Nor have I any need to know,

My Father doth protect me so.

I do the work He gives to me,
Not heeding what or where it be;
And more my Father will not ask
Than that I do my daily task.

He sees, He knows my every need,
Then why should I take careful heed?
He bids me cast on Him my care,
And every burden He will bear.

If troyble comes, to Him I fly,
Who will my every want supply;
Each day will bring some new surprise,

There was an old soldier lying on his hos-
pital cot, sick and full of trouble. He had
lived quite a long life in sin, but his conscience
was now awakened and he-trembled at the

wrath of God. He knew that he had deserved
‘leverlasting punishment. He had formerly
heard of the Saviour, but he thought he was
too great a sinner, and that there was no sal-
vation for him. A kind nurse stood near, who
seeing his patient very restless, asked what he
could do for him.

“‘T don’t know; I want something,” an-
swered the sick man, ‘‘I am miserable.”’

The nurse brought a cup of water, saying,
‘Wouldn’t you like a drink?’’

The soldier took the cup in his trembling
hand, but said, ‘‘No, this isn’t what I want;
it isn’t like this.”’

‘*Yes, it does,’’ said the nurse.

“‘And so vile and wicked ?’’

“Tt is just such that Jesus came to save.”’

‘‘And so wretched and dark?’’

‘The very one exactly. Christ by His suf-
ferings and death redeemed all sinners. There
is nobody so wicked or so low or so miserable
but that Jesus comes to him in the Gospel as
his Saviour. And whosoever, let him be who
he may, whosoever believeth in Him, that is,
trusts in Him shall not perish, but have ever-
lasting life.’’

‘Read it once more,’’ said the sick man,
looking into the nurse’s face as if he were
grasping the last hope. The nurse again read
the verse. ‘‘ Whosoever believeth; then it
means me!’’ the sick man exclaimed, and his
face grew calm and bright with a new trust.

Some token of His watchful eyes.

Who then so free and glad as I,
With such a friend forever nigh?
Beneath His shadow I may hide,
And peaceful in His love abide.

And so I calmly sit and sing,
Content with what each day may bring,
My Father orders what is best,
And. in His will I tind my rest.
Selected.

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Whosoever Believeth!

There is sweet comfort in that word who-
soever for every sinner that has come to the
knowledge of his sin and is anxious for his
salvation. ‘‘God so loved the world, that He
gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting lite,’ John 8, 16. ‘‘Whosoever be-
lieveth in Him shall receive remission of sins,”
Acts 10,43. Christ suffered and died and pro-
cured salvation for all sinners, and to all sin-
ners the Gospel brings this salvation. The
moment the sinner takes this salvation by faith
it is his. He may be the greatest of all sin-
ners, the moment he as a lost, poor, and con-
demned sinner embraces the Saviour by faith,
he has forgiveness of all his sins, he is a child
of God and an heir of heaven. For the Bible
says: ‘Whosoever’ —mark that word who-
soever— ‘‘whosoever believeth in Him shall
receive remission of sins.’”

‘

the poor man; “‘it ain’t such help that I want.
Oh, I’m a dreadfully wicked man; and the
way is all dark before me—all dark.”’

had discovered. what was the matter with his

“‘Tt is almost time for the surgeon to come
in,’’ said the nurse kindly.
‘Well, he can’t do much for me,’’ sighed

The nurse was a Christian; and by this time

patient. So he sat down beside him, and asked
if he wouldn’t like to hear. what the Bible had
to say to wicked men who want something the
surgeon and the nurse can not give.

“Oh, yes!” moaned the sick man; ‘‘but
I’m afraid there is no use init. It’s a long
time since I have had.anything to do with the
Bible, and I’m the greatest sinner in the world ;
and it’s all dark ahead—all dark!’

‘‘But listen to what Jesus says,’’ said the
nurse; and he opened to the third chapter of
John’s Gospel. The man listened until he
had finished the sixteenth yerse: ‘“‘For God
so loved the world, that He gave His only be-
gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.’”

‘“Stop,’” said he, ‘tread that again.’”’ The
nurse repeated the verse, laying great stress
on the word ‘‘whosoever.””

‘© But what does that whosoever mean?” the
sick man eagerly inquired.

“Tt means anybody,”’ said the nurse.

‘‘No, not anybody; not such a sinner as
I am,”’ he interrupted again.

And as he lay on his cot day after day, these
precious words of the Saviour were often on
his lips, his soul’s hope and comfort as he went
down to death.

Whosoever! Yes, anybody, black or white,

wise or unlearned, rich or poor, happy and
strong, or miserable and nigh unto death, who-
soever believeth in Jesus shall not perish, but
have everlasting life. :

‘*Wuosorver believeth on Him shall not be

ashamed,’’ says the Bible (Rom. 10, 11.).

———-—- oa o> oo

To-Morrow.

Those who go down to perdition from Gos-
pel lands haye almost all been ruined by
to-morrow. They did not intend to make their
bed in hell. They intended to embrace the
Saviour and prepare for heaven. But they.
were never quite able to attend to this matter ;
they were always going to do it to-morrow,
or at some not very distant day. So they de-
ferred till death came. O, fatal to-morrow!
O, cruel murderer of souls! How many by
thee have been robbed of heaven, and pierced
through with many sorrows!

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Te error of not knowing nor understand-
ing what sin is, usually brings withitself an-
other error, that of not knowing nor under-~
standing what grace is.—Luther.