The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1895, Page 33

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~— Che Autheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PusiisHep BY THE KvANGELICAL LuTHERAN SynopicaAL CONFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

ft. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XVII.

St. Louis, Mo., September, 1895.

No. 9.

The Faithful Friend.

Art thou weary? Come to Jesus;
He will give thee rest,

Take thee in His arms so gently,
Fold thee in His breast.

If in sorrow, then tell Jesus,
Tell Him all thy grief,

He will soothe thee in thy sorrow,
He will give relief.

Heavy burden dost thou carry?
Then to Jesus flee;

He will ease thee of thy burden,
Bear both it and thee.

Art thou lonely? He is with thee,
Will be all the way;

Sweet, communion with the Saviour
May be thine each day.

Dost thou dread the unknown future?
All with Jesus leave;

Just the grace that thou requirest
He will surely give.

Even in the last dark valley
There is naught to fear;
“TY am with thee,’’? He will whisper,

“J, thy Lord, am here.”
Selected.~

>< oa >

Salvation Prepared.

Many try to prepare their salvation by their
own works. They think if they do the best
they can, they will surely be saved. They
know not that they are corrupt, and that ‘‘a
corrupt tree can not bring forth good fruit.”
Besides, if man himself could prepare sal-
vation, Christ need not have come into the
‘world to procure salvation for sinners. Man
could be his own saviour, and the sufferings
and death of Christ would not be needed. If
man himself can prepare his salvation, then
there is nothing in that mysterious incarnation
of the Son of God; nothing in that life of
Poverty and want; nothing in that great agony
in the garden of Gethsemane; nothing in that
Precious blood which flowed from the cross
On Calvary. :

But, thanks be to God! our salvation is
already prepared. It is prepared in Christ
Jesus, the Saviour of sinners. By sending His
Son into the world, and by laying our sins
Upon Him, and by punishing Him in our stead,

~ 2)

God Himself prepared our salvation. There-
fore Simeon, taking the Saviour up in his arms,
blessed God and said: ‘‘Lord, now lettest Thou
Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy
word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,
which Thou hast prepared before the face of all
people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and
the glory of Thy people Israel.’’ In Christ:
God has prepared salvation. The sinner is not
to prepare it. Hecould never do it. Neither
is the sinner to add anything to that salvation
in order to make it perfect or suited to his
need. It is a salvation which God has pre-
pared, and hence it must be perfect and
exactly suited to the need of every sinner.
The outcast worlan; weeping at the feet of
Jesus; the publican, welcoming the Saviour
to his home and to his heart; the dying thief,
looking to the Crucified One—they all found
salvation prepared in Him, and rejoiced.

Reader, how can you escape if you neglect
this great salvation? God is satisfied only
with the salvation prepared in His beloved
Son. If you reject this salvation, you are lost.
If you accept this salvation, you are saved.

And when this salvation has become yours
by faith, then remember that it has been pre-
pared for all people. The more you rejoice
over this full and free salvation, the greater
will be your zeal in telling others of that which
makes you so happy. Most men are trying
to prepare their salvation, whilst they are on
the road to eternal damnation. Many of them,
especially in heathen lands, have never heard
that salvation is already prepared and is freely
offered to all sinners in the Gospel. See to it
that this Gospel be preached to those that
know it not, so that they also may be brought
to faith in this great salvation, which God
Himself has prepared for all sinners in Christ
Jesus our Lord.

Saving the Lost.

Christ came that He might save the lost.
When a sinner has come to the end of himself
—takes the place of one utterly lost, then
God can deal with him in grace and give him
life. Christ came not to call the righteous,

but sinners to repentance. ‘*Why did you not
rush after your friend, when he fell into the
water?’’ was once asked; to which was re-
plied, ‘‘He was trying to save himself; if Ihad
gone to him at first, then we might have both
been lost. I waited till he had come to the
end of his own strength, and then I rescued
him.’’ You understand. When a man takes
his place as one who is lost, and gives up all
his self-righteousness, and finds himself under
sentence of death, then he is thankful to be
saved by grace. Having no other refuge, he
will be glad to find refuge in the Saviour of
sinners.
+ OEE Oe

’ Come to Jesus.

How can a man trust in his own righteous-
ness? It is like seeking shelter under one’s
own shadow. A man may stoop to the very
ground, and the lower he bends he still finds
that his shadow is beneath him. But if aman
flee to the shadow of a great rock or of a wide-
spreading tree, he will find shelter from the
rays of the noon-day sun. So human merits
can not give salvation, and Christ alone is able
to save to the uttermost those who come unto
God by Him. :

——_> ~~ oo

Children.

‘There are my jewels’’, said a poor heathen
woman, pointing to her two boys, when she
was asked by a rich lady to show her treasures.
Her children were not baptized. How much
more may the Christians look upon their chil-
dren as treasures after they have been bap-
tized and made heirs of heaven.

——~<S 2 0 <0 +

The Joy of Saving Souls.

The heart of a true physician must thrill
with joy, when he realizes that by a surgical
operation or a wise administration of medicine
at a critical moment, he has been the means
of saving life. Yet this is nothing to the joy
of saying souls. Jesus delighted in his minis-
try to the sick, but the ‘‘joy that was set be-
fore Him,’’ was the joy of saving souls. We
may enter with Him into this joy.