The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1898, Page 25

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PusBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNODICAL CONFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. -XX.

t.

Louis, Mo., July, 1898.

No. 7.

Nearer, 0 Christ, to Thee.

‘Nearer, O Christ, to Thee,

Nearer to Thee,

’Tis Thine atoning blood
That raiscth me;

Setting me free from sin,

Making me pure within,

Bringing me nearer to Thee,
Nearer to Thee.

‘Nearer, O Christ, to Thee!

Nearer to Thee,

Drawn by redeeming love,

I long to be! e
Rough tho’ the path may be
By which Thou leadest me,
This is my humble plea—

Nearer to Thee!

‘“‘When flesh and heart shall fail,
And death draws nigh,
Rending these bars of clay,
Upward I fly—
Rising on joyful wing,
My ransomed soul shall sing
Nearer, O Christ, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!”’

——2. ~<a o> oe
Liberty.

Men love liberty. To gain liberty, wars
have been waged and much blood has been
shed on the battle field. But the liberty that
men seek is civil and political liberty. A man
may enjoy this great blessing and yet there
may be something wrong about him. There
was old Uncle Brown. He was the best
speaker in the village, and on every festival
occasion he was chosen the orator of the day.
Well, on a certain Fourth of July he stepped
upon the platform to deliver his speech. There
were the men and the women with their chil-
dren—all listening’ to the eloquence of their
neighbor Brown. And Brown was an eloquent
speaker. He spoke of. ‘‘the free sun rising
over a free people.’’ He spoke of ‘‘the free
flag waving over a free nation.’’ At last,
raising his voice to the highest pitch, he cried
‘out, ““Yes; ladies and gentlemen, I’m standing
here before you on the soil of liberty!” ‘‘Oh,
no!” cried out Smith, the shoemaker, ‘‘you
are standing in a pair of boots you never paid
me for.’? The folks laughed and there was

an end to Brown’s speech. He found out
that although he lived in a free country, there
was something wrong about him.

A man may live in a free country and enjoy
all political liberty, and still he may be a slave
—a slave of sin and of Satan. By nature all
men are in this slavery, being bound in the
chains of sin and dragged by Satan into ever-
lasting damnation. The apostle says that we
are ‘‘sold under sin.’’ Sold as slaves and held
captive in the prison-house of sin. Is there
no deliverer from this bondage? Yes. Jesus
came into the world to set sinners free. This
he did by taking the sinners’ place. In their
stead He perfectly fulfilled all the demands of
the law and bore the punishment of sin. Thus
He won liberty for all that are held in the
bondage of sin. This liberty is made known
to sinners in the Gospel. There Christ comes
‘tto proclaim liberty to the captive.”? The
Gospel is the grand proclamation of liberty to
allsinners. It tells them that ‘‘God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him shall not
perish, but have everlasting life.” He that
believes this Gospel and takes Christ “as his
Saviour and Deliverer enjoys the sweet liberty
with which Christ doth make us free. He is
a free child of God—free from the slavery
and punishment of sin, free from the curse of
the law, free from the wrath of God, free from
everlasting damnation. As a child of God
he is an heir of heaven, that sweet land of
liberty, where God’s children enjoy everlast-
ing freedom and heavenly bliss in the beauti-
ful mansions of their Father’s house.

Dear reader, we thank God for all the civil
and political liberty we enjoy. But there is
a far better liberty than all this. Speak of
political liberty to the troubled sinner, to the
poor orphan and the sorrowing widow, to the
weeping ones at the coffin and the grave, to
the dying man on his death-bed, will it bring
pesce and comfort to the troubled heart? No.
Tell them the Gospel, speak to them about
the liberty gained by Jesus, the great De-
liverer, the loving Saviour, the kind Friend of
sinners! That will bring peace, and comfort,
and joy to the troubled soul. Accept the
Gospel which brings you the liberty that Jesus

bought for you more than 1800 years ago by
His own precious blood. Then you will be
free indeed. There is often much sham in
the civil and political liberty of this world,
but there is no sham in the liberty which the
Gospel proclaims. Jesus, the Son of God,
says, ‘‘If the Son shall make you free, ye
shall be free indeed,’’ John 8, 36.

——s o-oo

Preach the Gospel.

A lady who visited in the South shortly after
the war was asked by an old colored woman:
‘¢Please, is I free or is I not?’’

“Why, what makes you ask that question?”
said the lady.

‘Oh,’” said the old auntie, ‘‘my old massa
says I is not free at all; and when I go out
and see the colored people they say they are
free, and now is I free or is I not?”’

There the poor colored woman had been
free for some time and did not know it.

How many there are who know not the
freedom from sin and everlasting damnation.
They know not Christ, who bore the sins of ©
the world more than eighteen hundred years
ago and thus procured freedom for all sinners.
Therefore we are told to preach the Gospel to
all creatures. They are to know of the free-
dom with which Christ sets sinners free. The
Gospel is the proclamation of that freedom.
Preach the Gospel!

—_—2- <0

A Higher Hand.

A little boy sat in front of his father and
held the reins which controlled a restive horse.
Unknown to the boy the reins passed around
him, and were also in his father’s hands. He
saw occasion'to pull them. With artless simplic-
ity the child looked around, saying, ‘‘Father,
I thought I was driving; but Iam not, am 1?”
Thus it is often with men, who think that they
are shaping a destiny which a higher Hand
than theirs is really fashioning. A stronger
Hand guides them, a mightier power holds
the helm of their vessel, and saves from rock
and wreck. Happy are they who quietly yield
to the guidance of an almighty hand. © :