The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1895, Page 11

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

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(For the LUTHERAN PIONEER.)
Confirmation.

Now then take hold and guide me
By my right hand,
Till blessed death betide me,
And without end.
Alone I dare not journey,
No, not one pace;
Where Thou shalt tour and turn Thee,
There be my place.

In Thy compassion cherish
My sinking soul;

In pains and pleasures nourish
And make it whole.

Let at Thy feet repose him
Thy son of grief,

And ’gainst his eyes he’ll close him
In firm belief.

_ Though I have no sensation

Of Thy great might,

Thou’lt make my destination,
E’en through the night.

Now then take hold and guide me
By my right hand,

Till blessed death betide me,
And without end. 4

Transl. by Rev. F. Herm. Meyer,

—--—* +0-<me- >

The Blood that Cleanseth from all Sin.

A missionary was visiting among the poor
of a large city, and found his way to the third
floor of a tenement building. Knocking at
the door of a room, he stood face to face with
4 powerful young man, who looked=madly at
him. The missionary said that he had come
to read out of a book to the sick and suffer-
ing, and he thought there might be some one
here who needed the consolation the book

‘could give. The young ruffian, understand-
‘ing in a moment the Christian’s mission, or-
‘dered him away and threatened to hurl him
‘down the stairs if he did not instantly leave.

The missionary turned to go, when a weak
‘voice behind the door, broken by a cough,
sasked, ‘‘Does your book tell of the blood?”’
-Pushing his way into the dirty room, he saw
‘upon a wretched bed a woman in the last
‘stages of consumption. She was the mother
4of the young man, who stood behind the mis-
4sionary without speaking. ‘‘Oh,’’ exclaimed
ithe dying sinner, ‘‘I have been a bad woman,
4a wicked woman, and no one knows how un-
Ihappy I am, and how much I suffer.” The
inissionary seated himself upon a three-legged
4stool beside the pallet of straw, and said, ‘‘My
ipoor friend, what do you know about the
Iblood 2” ‘*T was passing a church one morn-
uing,’’ she replied, ‘‘and went in for a moment.
IL soon got out, for I thought it no place for
#stch as me, but before I went, I heard the
Preacher read something about the blood that
<cleanseth from all sin, and I have never for-
otten it.”

“Would you like to hear about it again?”’
the inquired. ‘Hear aboutit?” she said, ‘‘yes,
I want to hear about it. Iam dying, and how
an face God? I tell you I have been wicked

my life, and I am afraid to die. Is there

any hope for me? If there is, let me know it.
I can’t get away from the words the preacher
read when I was in the church, and he must
have read them from the Bible. : But I have no
Bible, and I never had one in my life. I was
born in sin; I grew up in sin; and I have done
nothing but sin; it is dreadful to die this way.
I would not care for death if I was ready to
go, but I am not ready. Say, does your book
tell of the blood?’’

The missionary drew from his pocket the
New Testament, and slowly read: ‘‘The blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from
all sin.”’ He then added: ‘This is true, for
God says it, and God can not lie. The blood
of Jesus Christ cleanseth ws from ail sin.”’
He told her of man’s lost and sinful state, of
Christ’s coming down into the world to be the
Saviour of sinners, of His sufferings and death
upon the cross, of His resurrection from the
dead, of His love for the vilest of sinners, of

His willingness to receive them just as they
are.

‘‘Read more, read more,’’ said the woman,
as she gazed with hungry look into the face
of the. missionary. He continued to read a
few verses here and there from the same chap-
ter as he thought she would be able to under-
stand them. ‘‘I write unto you, little children,
because your:sins are forgiven you for His
name’s sake.’’ He told her to notice that the
moment the sinner believes, his sins are for-
given. When-he-read to: her:that-“‘God is
love,’’ and that He ‘‘sent His only begotten
Son into the world that we might live through
Him,” she rejoiced at the greatness of God’s
grace.

The woman soon rested calmly and con-
fidingly on the sure word of the living God:
‘¢The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleans-
eth us from all sin.” The missionary con-
tinued to visit her every day for six weeks,
until she fell asleep in Jesus, and her son also
listened with deepest interest to, the ‘‘wonder-
ful words of life’’ and received them into his
own heart as his only salvation.

What other word than the Gospel of the
blood of Jesus could have given hope and
consolation to that poor dying sinner? There
is no other. - Men often speak lightly of that
Gospel and teach some other so-called Gospel
—the gospel of man’s morality, or the gospel
of man’s own endeavors. The Gospel of Jesus
they often mockingly call ‘‘a bloody religion.”
But let men say what they please, there is no
other gospel than:the Gospel of the blood.
“Tt is the blood that maketh an atonement
for the soul,’’ is written in the Old Testament.
‘‘yithout the shedding of blood there is no
remission,” is written in the New Testament.
The Lord Jesus knew the purpose of His

death, and He said, ‘‘This is my blood of the} -

New Covenant, which is shed for many for
the remission of sins.” The Saints in heaven
know how they got there, and they sing to
Him, ‘!Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed
us to God by Thy blood,” Rev. 5,9. As we

in the season of Lent meditate on the suffer-
ings and death of our Saviour, let us remem-
ber that nothing but the blood of Jesus can
put our sins away.

The Lord’s Prayer.

Christ has given us an excellent brief form,-
how and what we are to pray, that embraces
all kinds of wants that are to drive us to prayer,
so that we can daily remind ourselves of them
in such short words, and no one may be ex-
cused, as though he did not know how or what
he is to pray; and it is a very good practice
especially for ordinary people, children and
servants, to pray the whole of the Lord’s
Prayer daily, morning and evening, and at the
table, and also at other times, so that one may
present to God in it all our needs in general.

The Lord’s Prayer is surely the very best
prayer that was ever uttered upon earth, or
that any one could conceive, since God the
Father gave it through His Son, and laid it
upon His lips; so that we dare not doubt that
it is extremely pleasing to Him. He ad-
monishes us at the very beginning, both con-
cerning His command and His promise, in the
word: ‘‘Our Father,’’ as the one who demands
from us ‘this honor, that we are to ask from
Him, as a child from its father, and He wants
us to have the confidence that He will gladly
give us what we need; and this is further also
a part of if, that we glory in being His chil-
dren through Christ; and thus we come in
accordance with His command and promise,
and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
appear before Him with all confidence.

Dr. Martin LutHer.

——s—_+ oa or eo

Cross - Bearers.

What.an honorable position was that of
Simon, the Cyrenian, to be cross-bearer to
Jesus Christ! We could almost weep that
we were not there that we might have had
the honor of carrying Christ’s cross for Him.
But we need not weep, for we shall have His
cross to carry if we are His people. There
are no crown-wearers in heaven who were not
cross-bearers here below. There shall be
none among the throng of the glorified who
had not their cross on earth. Hast thou a
cross, believer? Shoulder it manfully! Up
with it! Go along thy journey with unshrink-
ing footsteps and a rejoicing heart, knowing 3
that since it is Christ’s cross it must be an
honor to carry it; and that while you are
bearing it you are in blessed company, for
you are following Him. —T. F. C.

——s +o eor oo

(Tye LIFE OF Curistranity,”’ said Luther,
‘consists in possessive pronouns.”’ Itis one
thing to say, “‘Christ isa Saviour’’; itis quite
another to say, ‘‘He is my Saviour and my
Lord.” ‘The devil can say the first; the true
Christians alone can say the second.