The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1895, Page 41

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Che Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PousiisHep By THE EvancEeLicaAL Lurueran SynopicaL CoNnFERENcE or NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XVII.

St. Louis, Mo., November, 18985.

No. It.

Harvest Hymn.

O Christ, in notes of gladness
Our harvest hymn we raise;
Thou givest songs of sadness,
Thou turnest prayer to praise:
Redeemer, we adore Thee,
Thy constant love we sing;
We cast our sheaves before Thee,
And hail Thee, Israel’s King!

The fowls sow not, nor gather
With anxious care their food,

Whilst Thou, eternal Father,
Dost feed their hungry brood:

The lilies stand more splendid
Than Solomon arrayed,

By Thy blest care defended;
Why ‘then ave we-dismayed?

If God so clothe with beauty
The grasses of the fleld,
Whose bloom the fire, as booty,
. To ashes soon shall yield;
Will He not clothe and feed thee,
Preserve thy soul from death,
And through the desert lead thee,
O thou of little faith?

The Gentile in his blindness
Seeks but himself to feed;
We trust Thy constant kindness,
Who knowest all our need:

Not anxious for the morrow,
We own Thy loving grace;

Sufficient is brief sorrow—
We scek our Father's face!

Selected,
———— -c-<m-<.

The Only Way.

heard a voice crying in his soul, ‘‘The just
shall live by faith.’? He had read these words
in the Bible, but had not understood them.
God, however, soon opened their meaning to
him, and obedient to the Word of God, Luther
saw his error of trying to earn salvation by
his own pains and works and rested his soul’s
salvation on the finished work of Christ.

Yes, Luther found the true way to heaven,
not by climbing the ‘‘Holy Stairs’’ on his
naked knees, but by simple faith in Jesus,
who says, ‘‘I am the way, the truth, and the
life: no man cometh to the Father but by me.”’
If you would enter heaven, you must do it by
the same way. As a lost and condemned
sinner-you must-simply tzust in Jesus, the
Saviour of sinners. There is no other way to
heaven; for there is no other Saviour than
Jesus. He is the only Redeemer from ever-
lasting damnation, and faith in Him is the
only way to eternal life.

This way is an old way. On it the saints
of God have walked in every age, patriarchs
like Abraham, prophets like Samuel, judges
like Gideon, apostles like Paul and Peter,
martyrs like Stephen, mothers like Eunice,
and children like Timothy, who knew from
boyhood the Holy Scriptures and by them be-
came wise unto salvation.

This way is a freely open way —free as the
sun that shines on the evil and the good; free
to all men, without money and without price,
whatever the color of their skin or the land of
their birth; free to the richest, if they only
become poor in spirit; free to the poorest, if

Near one of the churches of Rome are the they only seek to be rich in faith; free to the
So-called Holy Stairs, said by the Romanists wisest, if they only wish to be taught of God;
to have been brought from Jerusalem, and to} and free to you, dear reader, whoever you are.
be the same steps down which our Saviour | {nto this way you have been called by every

walked from Pilate’s hall of judgment. These
Steps are twenty-five in number, made of solid
Marble, and covered with wood to keep them
from being worn away by the knees of the
Pilgrims, who foolishly hope to gain forgive-
ness of sin by climbing up these stairs.

Gospel sermon of the passing church year.
Have you heeded the call, and are you on the
way to heaven? As the church year closes,
so your life in this world will also come to an
end. Death may cut you off very soon, and
your bed may soon be in a church-yard.

Luther, in the year 1511, dressed as a|Therefore neglect not your soul’s salvation.

monk, with his shayen head and bare knees,

Was climbing up those marble steps, hoping |is on the way to heaven, you wil

thereby to calm his troubled conscience and
Work his way to heaven, when all at once he

And if you know the happiness of one who
l surely wish

to bring others into the same way; S° that they
also may enjoy true happiness and be made

heirs of eternal life. The Gospel way is the
only way to heaven, and there are so many
that know it not, so many that choose their
own ways, by which they are led into ever-
lasting woe. To these the Gospel must be
preached, by which they are brought into the
way to everlasting bliss. This is done by our
missionaries in church and school. Let us
help them by our prayers and by our gifts!

Tell to others around

What a dear Saviour you have found.

Christ, the Gift of God’s great love,
Is the only way to heaven above.

0+ o<mm o>

Sins Blotted Out.

‘According unto the multitude of Thy ten-
der mercies blot out my transgressions.’’

A little boy was once puzzled about sins
being blotted out, and said:

“T can not think what becomes of all the
sins God forgives, mother.’’

‘‘Why, Charlie, can you tell me where are
all the figures you wrote on your slate yester-
day?”

“J washed them all out, mother.’’

‘‘And where are they, then?”

‘Why, they are nowhere; they are gone,”’
said Charlie.

Just soit is with the believer’s sins; they are
gone— blotted out— ‘‘remembered no more.’”

‘CAs far as the east is from the west, so far
hath He removed our transgressions from us.’”

When to Pray.

It is well to let prayer be the first employ- |
ment in the early morning, and the last in the
evening. Avoid diligently those false-and de-
ceptive thoughts which say, ‘Wait a little and
I will pray in an hour hence; I must perform
this or that.”” For with such thoughts a man
quits prayer for business, which lays hold of
and entangles him, so that he comes not to
pray the whole day long. — Marlin Luther.

——s eae oe

Tne same hand that was nailed to the cross
is now wielding the sceptre on the throne.