The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1899, Page 14

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

The Three Pilgrims.

One of the three pilgrims that you see in
our picture is the risen Saviour. While the
women, who had heard from an angel the ti-
dings of Christ’s resurrection, hasten to find
Peter and John and bear to them the glad ti-
dings, the risen Saviour goes Himself to seek
two others who are on their way from Jerusa-
lem to the little village of Emmaus. Drawing
nigh to them as a stranger, He asks them what
it is which fills their hearts with sorrow and
saddens their countenance. They tell Him of
their hope that they had found the
Messiah, and how sadly that hope
had been darkened by His cruel
death. They tell Him of the story
of the women, who had’ found the
grave empty and were told that He
is risen, —a story which seemed to
them an idle tale. The stranger
then becomes their instructor, ex-
pounding to them from the Scrip-
tures the predictions of Messiah’s
sufferings and Messiah’s triumph,
in words so loving and convincing
that their hearts burned within them.
Evening had come on, when they
reached their destination, and the
stranger was persuaded to go in
with them to their home. As He
sat down with them and broke the
bread, their eyes were opened, and
lo! He who had joined them and
walked with them, was He whom
their souls loved—the risen Saviour!
He soon yanished out of their sight,
but their hearts were filled with joy.
They had seen the living Jesus, and
had experienced the power of His
resurrection, and with hurried steps
and intensity of purpose they has-
tened back to Jerusalem to tell others
of that which made them glad.

So the tidings of Christ’s resur-
rection bring joy to every believing
heart, a joy that moves the believer
to tell others that Jesus lives. He
whose heart is filled with the true Easter
joy will be zealous in all mission work.
Through faithful and untiring labor for the
spreading of God’s kingdom he will bring the
Easter blessings to those that know them not.
re, hear and believe the blessed Easter
‘«Christ is risen,” and then tell it on
‘*Hfe is risen indeed.’

&nd laugh at
© dear little boy
his wits at work

to find a remedy for his trouble. One day he
was absent from school, and after school the
teacher, on his way home, caught sight of the
truant. The boy was kneeling beside a small
stream of water, taking up handfuls of sand,
with which he scrubbed his face. He then
washed it off with the water.

You may give up certain bad habits, so that
even your friends will be deceived, but what
do you think you have done? Simply white-
washed yourself, and the black heart is there
all the time underneath the white-wash. ‘The
black won’t rub off.”’ God can see under the
white-wash. You can not deceive Him. There

‘“‘What are you doing, my boy?’’ said the} is only one way to become white in the sight

teacher.

“Oh, sir, lam trying to wash myself white,
but the black won’t come off,’’ said the boy,
bursting into tears.

The little boy’s mistake reminds us of the

The Three Pilgrims.

verse: ‘‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin,
or the leopard his spots??? No! No man can
do that. It is to be hoped the teacher taught
the boy, that although he could not wash his
skin white, there is One who can wash his
heart white, and then what matters a black
skin. ‘*Wash me, and I shall be whiter than
snow,’’ is the repenting sinner’s prayer. ‘‘The
blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from
all sin,” is the sinner’s comfort. A boy may
have a white face, but he may have a very
black heart; whilst a boy with a black face
may be white in the sight of God, he being
washed in the blood of the Lamb, and dressed
in the white robe of Christ’s righteousness.
But remember it is all the gift of God. You
may try with your own strength to make your
black heart white, as the little boy did to make
his face white. But will you succeed? No.

of God. Accept by faith the white robe of
Christ’s righteousness which is offered to every
sinner in the Gospel. He that believes in the
Saviour is made white ; for ‘‘the blood of Jesus
Christ cleanseth us from all sin.’? And no
matter whether you are colored or
white, if you believe in Jesus, you
are among those who have ‘‘washed
their robes, and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb.”’

———> + oe >

Mexican Romanism.

Under the heading, ‘‘A Raflle for
Souls in Mexico,’’ the Christian
Endeavor World publishes a remark-
able notice of a raffle for souls in a
Catholic church in Mexico, as fur-
nished by the Rev. Francis S. Bor-
ton, a missionary in that country.
It reminds one of John Tetzel’s
public sales of papal indulgences in
Germany in 1517, which aroused
Luther to post his famous ninety-
five theses or protests on the doors
of the Castle church at Wittenberg.
The notice reads as follows:

Yesterday in a Roman Catholic
church in Mexico I read the follow-
ing notice:

‘‘Rafile for Souls. At the last
Raflle for Souls the following num-
bers obtained the prize, and the
lucky holders may be assured that
their loved ones are forever released
from the flames of Purgatory:

“Ticket 841. The soul of the
lawyer James Vasquey is released
from Purgatory, and ushered into
heavenly joys.

“Ticket 41. The soul of Madame Calderon
is made happy forever.

“Ticket 762. The soul of the aged widow
Francesca de Parras is forever released from
the flames of Purgatory:

‘A nother raftle for souls will be held at this
same blessed church of the Redeemer on Janu-
ary Ist, at which four bleeding and tortured
souls will be released from Purgatory to
Heaven, according to the four highest tickets
in this most holy lottery. Tickets, one dollar.
To be had of the father in charge. Will you,
for the poor sum of one dollar, leave your
loved ones to burn in Purgatory for ages?”

Thus the Roman church leads the souls away
from Christ into everlasting damnation. Well
did one who knew that church thoroughly say of
her: ‘“The church of Rome is certainly the mas-
ter-piece of Satan for the destruction of souls.””