The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1897, Page 29

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PusiisHeD BY THE Evanceicat Lureran SyNopICAL Conrerence or Nort America.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XIX.

Come.

Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Bruised and broken by the fall!
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all.
Not the righteous,
Sinners, Jesus came to call.

Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth,
Is to feel your need of Him;
This He gives you—
Tis the Spirit’s rising beam!

Lo! the incarnate God ascended,
Pleads the merit of His blood:
Venture on Him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude;
None but Jesus
Can do helpless sinners good.
Joseph Hart, 1759.
——s +o oe

Coming to Jesus.

How to Come ro Jesus.

‘Come unto me all ye that labor and are
heavy-laden, and I will give you rest,” says
Jesus. He invites all that labor under the
burden of their sin and fecl themselves heavy-
laden with sin to come to Him for rest. But
how can such sinners come to Jesus? He is
no longer on earth in such manner that we
can see Him. How can we come to Him?
He is present in the Gospel which is preached
tous. There He, the ‘‘friend of sinners,’? —
and that makes Him your friend—offers Him-
self to the sinner as his Saviour and gives
him rest; for He gives him forgiveness of
sin and life everlasting. Aceept Him and
rejoice. This is coming to Jesus. Therefore
it is written, ‘‘As many as received Him, to
them gave He power to become the sons of
God,’’ John 1,12. We receive Him and thus
come to Him by believing in Him. Coming
to Jesus is the same as believing or trusting
in Jesus. This is seen from the following
Passage: ‘‘And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall
never hunger; and he that believeth on me
shall never thirst,” John 6,35. The moment
the sinner believes or trusts in Jesus as his
Saviour, he has come to Him and found rest.

bs

St. Louis, Mo., August, 1897.

No. 8.

Come, Tooucn Unwortny.

“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out,’’ says Jesus. ‘Him that cometh’’
—let him be who he may; high or- low,
colored or white, rich or poor, a young sin-
ner or an old sinner, yea, the greatest of all
sinners, the chief of sinners: all who shall
come shall be welcome. ‘‘I will in no wise
cast out’’— though he may deserve it; though
he may dread it; let him take my word for it,
I will take him in my loving arms, I will in
no wise cast him out.

The woman that came to the Pharisee’s
house and washed the Saviour’s feet with her
tears was a great sinner, known all over the
city as a great sinner. She came to Jesus
with a trusting heart, believing that in Him
there was rest and salvation for her. And
He did not cast her out, but said kindly to

Taught by an Ox.

“The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass
his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know,
my people doth not consider,”’ Isa. 1, 3.

A farmer who had recently listened to a
sermon on this text was giving food to his
stock, when one of his oxen, evidently grate-
ful for his care, fell to licking his bare arm.
Instantly, with this simple incident, the text
of the sermon was recalled to the farmer’s
mind. He burst into tears and exclaimed,
“Yes, it is all true. How wonderful is God’s
word! This poor, dumb brute is really more
grateful to me than I am to God, and yet
Iam in debt to Him for every thing. What
asinnerI am!’’ ‘The lesson had found way
to his heart and led him to Christ.

her: ‘‘Thy sins are forgiven thee.’’ Thus
He gave the laboring and heavy-laden sin-
Ho BS Curse not.

The thief that was crucified by the Saviour’s
side was a very great sinner, but he came
to Jesus just as he was, trusting in Him as
his Saviour and his King. And Jesus did
not cast him out. ‘‘To-day thou shalt be
with me in Paradise,’’ He said. Thus He
gave the laboring and heavy-laden sinner
rest, everlasting rest.

Come, then, though unworthy. Let no
sense of unworthiness keep you back. Jesus
looks for nothing in you. He asks nothing
of you. He simply invites you to come
unto Him, that He may give you rest. His
heart is set upon giving rest to all that labor
and are heavy-laden. The most unworthy
sinner is most welcome to Jesus. He says,
‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out.’’ The very heavens will fall before
that word fails. Jesus says, ‘‘I willin no wise
cast out.’’ How this ought to put to flight
all your fears!

“Just as thou art, without one trace
Of love, or joy, or inward grace,
Or meetness for the heavenly place,
O guilty sinner, come, oh! come.’

—_—* ~~ eo

He that sincerely gives his heart will not
deny his money. :

In a busy seaport town in the North of
England two women emerged from a low-
looking public-house near the docks. Both
had been drinking, and now they had reached
the quarreling point; foul language and bitter
oaths were hurled at each other, accompanied
with much shaking of fists and threats. At
last the younger woman dealt her companion
a blow in the face, which silenced her fora
few moments. When she recovered herself
enough to speak, she saw her enemy watching
her, and raising her voice to its highest pitch,
she shrieked out these fearful words, with
oaths too vile to mention: ‘‘May God strike
your arm from your body!?’

She who uttered this curse gave birth to a
child some months later, and who shall paint
that mother’s remorse when told that her in-
fant girl had but one arm! She repeated over
and over again, ‘The curse has fallen home.
Oh! my baby, my poor baby!’ It was pain-
ful'to listen to her, and none could comfort
her. Before many days were passed that
mother received the ‘‘call’? and was taken to
her grave; a bad life and drink had done its
work rapidly and surely.