The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1899, Page 33

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—6 The Lutheran Pioneer.

A MI

SSIONARY

MONTHLY.

PusuisHep BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SynopicaL CoNnFERENCE OF Norto AMERICA.

Vol. XXI.

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled.

JOHN 14, 1.

“Let not your heart be troubled’’:
These precious words divine
Come like a balm of healing
To this poor heart of mine;
When anxious for the morrow,
Or crushed with sudden grief,
This saying of the Master
Brings sure and sweet relief.

“Yet not your heart be troubled’’:
The loving Saviour’s voice
Bids me in gloom and sorrow
To hope, and e’en rejoice;
In tenderness, He’s saying:
“J seck a place for thee,
While yet in God believing, _
Believe also in me.”

And trusting in His promise,

With all my fears allayed,
Through each days round of duties,
My soul on peace is stayed;
And looking toward the mansions,

In heaven prepared for me,
I answer: ‘‘Blessed Jesus,
I do believe in Thee.”

2. -ca oo

Selected.

The Sinner’s Warrant for Coming to Christ.

The sinner is invited to come. Christ says,
“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest’’ (Matt.
11,28). He does not say that He will sell the
rest, nor does He say that He will give it in
exchange for our tears and vows and works,
but He gives it freely to all that come to Him.

The sinner is entreated to come. ‘‘Now then
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God
did beseech by us: we pray in Christ’s stead,
be ye reconciled to God’? (2 Cor. 5, 20).
Through His servants God Himself beseeches
sinners in all their darkness and enmity and
guilt to be reconciled to Him. Should this
not melt the sinner’s heart?

The sinner is commanded to come. ‘‘This
is His commandment, that we should believe

on the name of His Son Jesus Christ’’ (1 John |

8, 28). It surely can not be wrong to obey
God’s commandment, and none can doubt
that they have the clearest and fullest war-
Tant for trusting in Christ, when they read
that God commands them to believe:

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

The sinner is assured of a present and cer-
tain salvation if he come. ‘God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that wHosoeveER believeth in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John
3, 16). ‘Him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out”? (John 6, 37). ‘‘Verily, verily,
Isay unto you, He that believeth on me HATH
everlasting life’? (John 6, 47). ‘‘Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved”’ (Acts 16, 31). ‘To him that worketh
not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the
ungodly, his faith is counted for righteous-
ness’’ (Rom. 4, 5).

The sinner will be lost forever, if he does
not come. ‘He that believeth not shall be
damned’? (Mark 16, 16). ‘‘He that believeth
on Him is not condemned; but he that be-
lieveth not is condemned already, because he
hath not believed in the name of the only be-
gotten Son of God” (Jobn 8, 18). ‘Ye will
not come to me that ye might have life’’
(Jobn 5, 40). ‘‘The Lord Jesus shall be re-
vealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that
know not God, and that obey not the Gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ’? (2 Thess. 1, 7. 8).
‘‘How shall we escape, if we neglect so great
salvation?’’? (Hebr. 2, 3.)

There can be no doubt, therefore, that the
sinner has full warrant in the Word of God
for coming to the Saviour, and it is equally
certain that his eternal welfare turns upon his
accepting or rejecting Him who died upon the
cross for his sins. ‘‘He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth
not on the Son shall not see life; but the wrath
of God abideth on him’? (John 3, 36).

oe

True and False Christians.

There are two kinds of Israelites and Chris-
tians. He is a true Israelite who has the
promise and faith, of Abraham, and without
deceit and in simplicity believes the teaching
of the prophets, and cleaves to the promise
of Abraham, like Nathaniel (John 1, 47), and
as all Christians still do; when they are bap-
tized, they hear the Gospel, read the Holy

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

St. Louis, Mo., September, 1899.

Scriptures, receive the Sacrament, love their
neighbor. These use the Christian name
rightly, and are true Christians. But there
are also false Christians, who indeed use Bap-
tism and the Lord’s Supper, and can speak
of the Holy Scriptures as much as true Chris-
tians; and both they and we have the Word
of God before us, but they are Christians
only as to the outward form and in name.
For they do not believe, and are inwardly
full of unbelief, envy and hatred, full of
vices, given to adultery, avarice and anger,
also to all manner of sins of which the world
is now full, and live like Turks and Tartars.
So then it is the will of our Lord Jesus, that
no one should boast that he is an Israelite or
a Christian; or say (boastingly): I am bap-
tized, I am a bishop, a priest, a preacher.
This is not sufficient; you must take care
that you believe, and live like a Christian,
that it be right with you both in your heart
and in your outward conduct, and that you
can glory in your Lord Jesus and in the true
faith. . But if this be wanting you are not a
true Christian.

False Christians, claiming to be evangel-
ical and yet bringing forth no fruit, are like
clouds without rain, with which the whole sky
is overcast, becomes dark and lowering, and
yet no rain falls to make the earth fruitful.
So many Christians boast of great holiness,
but they have no faith in God, nor love for
their neighbor. —Luther.

+o oe _-

Luther’s Argument with Satan.

Luther says: ‘‘Once upon a time the devil
said to me, ‘Martin Luther, you are a great
sinner, and you will be damned!’ ‘Stop!
stop!’ said I; ‘one thing at a time; Tama
great sinner; it is true, though you have no
right to tell me of it; I confess it. What
next?’ ‘Therefore, you will be damned.’
‘That is not good reasoning. It is true, I
am a great sinner, but it is written, “Jesus
Christ came to save sinners;”’ therefore J shall
te saved. Now go your way.’ So I cut the
devil off with his own sword, and he went
away mourning because he could not cast me
down by calling me a sinner.”’