The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1899, Page 41

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Che Autheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY

MONTHLY.

Pous.isHep BY THE EyANGELIcAL Lurueran SynopicaL CONFERENCE OF Nort AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XXI.

Steouis Nomen:

ovember, 1899.

No. 11.

Judgment.

The last long note has sounded,
The dead from dust to call;
The sinner stands confounded,
With fear on fear surrounded,
As by a sea unbounded,
Before the Judge of all.

No longer now delaying
The hour of dreaded doom;
No more the sentence staying,
No more the cross displaying,
In wrath His throne arraying,
The Judge, the Judge has come!

Cease, man, thy God-defying;
Cease thy best Friend to grieve;
Cease, man, thy self-relying;
Flee from the endless dying;
Swiftly thy time is flying;
EMBRACE THE SON AND ‘LIVE!
Selected,
— > - o~< oe - =

Are You Ready?

The last lessons of the church year remind
us of the coming of Christ to judge the quick
and the dead. He that comes to us in every
Gospel sermon throughout the church year
shall come in§jthe clouds of heaven to judge
the world. Are you ready to meet Him?

How many there are, who, like the foolish
virgins, have not faith! The foolish virgins
thought the Bridegroom would not come for
along time. So they did not prepare for His
coming. They had not oil in their lamps.
Suddenly the cry was heard, ‘‘The Bride-
groom cometh!’’ They were not ready to
meet Him and were shut out from the mar-
riage supper.

Thus many go on from Sunday to Sunday,
putting off their conversion. Again and again
they hear the call to repentance. Again and
again they hear the sweet invitation of Jesus
to come to Him and find rest. But they choose
sin and the world and reject their only sal-
vation. Suddenly, when they think it not, the
Lord may come to judgment, and they are not
Teady to meet Him. It will then be too late
to prepare for His coming. They will hear
the awful words, ‘‘Depart from me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels.””

Ah, it is a terrible thing for a sinner to
appear before God in his sins on the day of
judgment! Has the solemn question of sin
been settled between you and God? If not,
listen to the voice of mercy: ‘‘Be it known
unto you therefore, men and brethren, that
through this man (Jesus) is preached unto you
the FORGIVENESS OF sINs, and by Him all that
believe ARE JUSTIFIED from ALL THINGS’’ (Acts
13, 38). God offers to you in the Gospel the
greatest blessing, the most precious gift, even
the forgiveness of sins, through Jesus, who suf-
fered, the just for the unjust; who for the
sinner’s sake was forsaken by God upon the
cross; whose solemn cry, ‘‘My God, my God,
why hast Thou forsaken me?’’ tells you what
a horrible thing sin is in the sight of the holy
God and also how unspeakably great His love
and grace and mercy are towards the sinner.
Will you receive the message of mercy, ac-
cept the offer made to you, and so be saved
and ready to meet the Lord when He comes
in His glory? Or will you, by turning away,
bring upon your soul the awful guilt of grace
despised, mercy trampled under foot, forgive-
ness refused, and Christ rejected? One or the
other you must do in this time of grace.
Clearly, you either receive or you do not
receive the salvation God offers you in the
Gospel. If you accept it by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, you ARE saved, you ARE ready
to meet Him at His coming. If you accept it
not, you are “condemned ALREADY,. because
you have not believed in the name of the only-
begotten Son of God’’ (John 3, 18). Take,
then, to heart the message of love ere it is too
late. ‘‘Behold, now is the accepted time; be-
hold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6, 3).
As the church year comes to an end, so the
time of grace will also come to an end. The
Lord will come in glory to judge the quick
and the dead. Are you ready to meet Him?

——~ oo

Pray Without Ceasing.

‘An humble servant girl told how she obeyed
this injunction in the following words: ‘‘When
I first open my eyes in the morning, I pray,
Lord, open the éyes of my understanding;
and while I am dressing, I pray that I may

2

be clothed with the robe of righteousness;
and as I begin to work, I pray that I may
have strength to work, I pray that I may have
strength equal to my day. When I begin to
kindle the fire I pray that God’s work may
revive in my soul; and as I sweep the house
I pray that my heart may be cleansed from all
its impurities; and while preparing and par-
taking of breakfast I desire to be fed with the
hidden manna, and the sincere milk of the
Word; and as I am busy with the little chil-
dren I look up to God as my Father and pray
for the Spirit of adoption, that I may be His
child. Everything I do furnishes me with a
thought for prayer.’’

—————- - a

Blotted Out.

A little boy was once much puzzled about
his sins being blotted out, and said: ‘‘I can
not think what becomes of all the sins God
forgives, mother.’’

“Why, Charlie, can you tell me where are
all the figures you wrote on your slate yester-
day?”’

“TY washed them all out, mother.””
~ “And where are they, then?’’

‘“Why, they are nowhere; they are gone,’’
said Charlie.

‘Just so it is with the believer's sins; they
are gone — blotted out — remembered no
more.”

‘*As far as the East is from the West, so far
has He removed our transgressions from us.”

++ oo eo

Two Sacrifices.

The Scriptures point out two sacrifices
which are well-pleasing to God. The first
they call the sacrifice of praise, when we
teach or hear God’s Word with faith, and
confess and spread it, and thank Him from
our hearts for all the unspeakable gifts so
richly given us in Christ. ‘‘He who offereth
praise, honoreth me.’’ The other sacrifice is
when an agonized, troubled heart takes refuge
with God, seeks help from Him and patiently
waits for it. ‘The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart,
O God, Thou wilt not despise.”” — Luther.

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