The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1898, Page 17

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«Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PusBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNopicAL CoNFERENCE OF Nortn AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XX.

St. Louis, Mo., May, 1898.

No. 5.

Jesus’ Love.

Chief of sinners though I be,
Jesus shed His blood for me;
Died, that I might live on high;
Lives, that I might never die.

O the height of Jesus’ love!
Higher than the heavens above,
Deeper than the depths of sea,
Lasting as eternity.

Jesus only can impart

Balm to heal the smitten heart;
Peace that flows from sin forgiven,
Joy that lifts the soul to heaven.

Chief of sinners though I be,
Christ is all in all to me;
All my wants to Him are known,

All my sorrows are His own.
Selected.
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The Holy Spirit’s Work.

“Christianity,’’ said Luther, ‘‘consists of
possessive pronouns.’’ It is one thing to say,
“Christ is a Saviour;’’ it is quite another
thing to say, ‘‘He is my Saviour and my
Lord.”? The latter can be truly said by him
only in whose heart faith has been wrought
by the Holy Spirit. ‘‘No man can say that
Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost,”’
Says the apostle.

Man by nature is ‘‘dead in trespasses and
sin.’”” Not merely injured by sin. No; he
is “dead in trespasses and sin,’’ says the
Bible. ‘here is no life ina dead man, and
there is no strength in a dead man to bring
himself to life. So there is no spiritual life
in man as-he is by nature, and there is no
Strength whatever in him to bring himself to
Spiritual life or to assist in any wise in this
work. It is wholly the work of the Holy
Spirit. ‘The natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God; for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned,”’
1Cor. 2,14. Therefore we confess in our
Catechism: ‘I believe that I can not by my
Own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ,
my Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit
hath called me through the Gospel, enlightened

me by His gifts, and sanctified and preserved
me in the true faith.”?

The Holy Spirit does His work through the
Word of God. By the preaching of the Law
He brings the sinner to the knowledge of his
sins and to the sense of the punishment he
deserved by sin. In the Gospel He presents
the Saviour with forgiveness of sin and ever-
lasting life and works in man’s heart faith
in the finished work of Christ, so that the
sinner can joyfully say, ‘‘Jesus is my Saviour
and my Lord; I was blind, but now I see;
I was dead in sin, but now I live in Christ;
I was wretched and miserable, poor and
naked, but my sins are all forgiven and I
am clothed with the perfect righteousness of
Jesus; I was a child of wrath, but now I am
a child of grace; I was without hope in this
world, but now I know that my Redeemer
liveth and that my everlasting home is with
Him in heaven; I once feared death and eter-
nity, but now I have a desire to depart and
to be with Christ who loved me and gave
Himself for me.’’

Happy is he in whose heart the Spirit has
done His work and who in true faith can say,
‘(Jesus is mine.’’ He has been made rich in
Christ and His possessions are far greater
than all the wealth of this world. A gentle-
man once took a friend to the roof of his
house to show him the extent of his pos-
sessions. Waving his hand about, he said,
“There is my estate.”’ Pointing to a great
distance on one side, he said, ‘‘Do you see
that farm? Well, that is mine.’’ Pointing
again to the other side, he said, ‘‘Do you see
that house? That also belongs to me.’”’ In
turn, his friend asked, ‘Do you see that little
village out yonder? Well, there lives a poor
woman in that village who can say more than
all this.’ ‘‘Ah! what can she say?’ asked
the rich gentleman. ‘‘Why,’’ replied the
friend, ‘‘she can say, ‘Jesus is mine.’”’

—_—_—— - Pe

Jesus Comes to Bless.

A pastor’s attention was called to a woman
who was in great distress, being unable to
pay her rent. So he went to her for the
purpose of giving her assistance. He rapped
at the door, listened, and thought he heard

some one in the house. He rapped again,
but the door was not opened. The third time
he rapped very hard, listened, but again heard
nothing. After waiting a little while, he made
a great noise, and finally went away. A few
days afterwards he met the woman on the
street and said, ‘‘I was at your house the
other day; I had heard that you could not
pay your rent, and I came to assist you.’’
“Oh, was that you?’ the woman replied.
“T was in the house the whole time, but I
thought the proprietor of the house had come
to demand the rent, and as I had not the
money, I left the door locked.’’

This woman is a picture of a sinner who
thinks Jesus comes in the Gospel as a second
Moses to demand something of him, while in
reality Jesus always comes to give and to
bless. ‘‘Behold, I stand at the door and
knock; if any man hear my voice and open
the door, I will come in to him, and will sup
with him, and he with me,’”’ Rey. 3, 20.

Christian Humility.

Dr. Bengel, the great Lutheran divine, was
an humble Christian. When praised by men
for his great learning, he prayed God to make
him and keep him truly humble. ‘‘I commit
myself,’”’ said he, ‘‘to my faithful Creator,
my well-known Redeemer, my unfailing Com-
forter; I know not to whom to go save to my
Saviour. I do not want to be made anything
of by man, neither in life nor in death. After
death it is my wish to be forgotten by men,
even, as in life, I have lived apart from the
world. The judgments of men neither help
nor harm me. In that great day all things
will appear in a different light. Do not judge
before the time. It will be much better to.
have it said in the future kingdom, Are you
here too? than to haye it said, Where is such
and such a noted man? I hope nothing will
eyer be made of my poor productions. In
Christ, His Apostles, and martyrs we have
enough light. I am nothing.”

2 oo

Tne Christian is well armed, whose faith
says, ‘“‘God is my strength.”

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