The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1900, Page 21

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SynopicAL CONFERENCE OF Nort AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XXII.

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No. 6.

A Missionary Plea.

“You huve never stood in the darkness,” are words used
by « Red Indian chief us he pleaded that to him and his
people might be sent the “white man's Book.”

“You have never stood in the darkness,
And reached out a trembling hand,
If, haply, some one might find it
In the awe of a lonely land,
Where the shadows shift so strangely,
And the quick heart-beat is stirred,
If only the leaf be rustled
By the wing of a passing bird.

“You have never stood in the darkness
And said good-bye to the wife,
The little child, or the mother,
Who have sat in your house of life,
And knew not where they were going;
As birds who cross our sight,
Flitting within from the darkness,
Flitting without to the night.

“You haye never stood in the darkness,
When soul after soul went by
In the mighty rush of a battle,
Where kinsman and comrade die;
And something says they are living,
Although we behold them prone,
With eyes that stare out blindly,
As yet shall do our own.

“You have never stood in the darkness,

You do not know its awe;

On your land a great light shineth,
Which long ago you saw.

For the light of the world we ask you,
We plead for the Book which shows

The way to win to His footstool,
Which only the white man knows.”

Oh, voice from out of the darkness!
Oh, cry of a soul in pain!

May it ring as the blast of clarion,
Nor call God’s hosts in vain!

By the pierced hand which saved us
Let ours do their work to-day,

Till from those who tremble in darkness

The shadows are swept away.
Selected.

Po oe _

Ye Must Be Born Again.

To Nicodemus, who came to Christ to hear
of the way to heaven, the Saviour said, ‘‘Ye
Must be born again.’? Nicodemus was not
What the world would call a bad man. He
was a strict Pharisee, leading an outwardly

moral life. . Still Christ said to him, ‘‘Ye must
be born again.’’ Every man, no matter who
he is and what he is, must be born again if he
is to enter the kingdom of God. The Saviour
says, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except
a man be born again, he can not see the king-
dom of God.’’ And why must man be born
again? Christ says, ‘‘That which is born of
the flesh is flesh.’? Every child that is born
into this world is born of sinful parents and is
therefore sinful. The parents are flesh, and
that which is born of such parents is also
flesh. It can not be otherwise. Children of
sinners are sinners. Every man by his natural
birth gets a sinful, corrupt nature, and must
say with the psalmist: ‘‘Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity; and in sin did my mother con-
ceive me.’’ Man is a born sinner, with a heart
deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked; dead in trespasses and sin. That
sinful, corrupt, rotten nature is called flesh.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh.’’
And flesh can not please God. God is just
and holy. He hates sin. Flesh can not in-
herit the kingdom of God. No matter whose
flesh it is. The flesh of the learned and cul-
tivated and refined sinner can no more inherit
the kingdom of God than the flesh of the
coarse sinner. The flesh, the sinful nature,
of Nicodemus, a learned master of Israel,
was no better fitted for heaven than the flesh,
the sinful nature, of the lowest, most de-
spised sinner that walked the streets of Jeru-
salem. ‘‘Flesh can not inherit the kingdom
of God.””

How, then, can a sinner become a child of
God and an heir of heaven? He must be born
again; he must receive a new nature. This
new birth is effected by no natural power,
but by the Spirit of God. Christ said, ‘‘That
which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’” The
Spirit does this work through the Word of
God in the water of Baptism and in the read-
ing and preaching of the Gospel. Through
the means of grace the Spirit works faith in
the heart of the convicted sinner. The sinner
who has come to the knowledge of his sinful
nature and who finds nothing good in himself
is led by the Spirit to trust in Jesus as his
Saviour. ‘Thus man is born again. By faith

in Jesus he becomes a new creature. Besides
that sinful nature which he received by birth
from his earthly parents, he now has a new,
sinless nature by his new birth of the Spirit.
“That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’’
As man by his natural birth becomes a sinful
child of sinful parents, so he by this new
birth of the Spirit becomes a beloved child of
the holy God. ‘‘Ye are the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus,’’ says the apostle.
And again we read, ‘‘Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God.’’

Are you born again? If you do not asa
poor, lost, and condemned sinner believe in
Jesus as your Saviour and Redeemer, you are
not born again; and if you are not born again,
you can not enter into the kingdom of God.
Christ plainly says, ‘‘Except a man be born
again, he can not see the kingdom of God.”
In the Gospel of Jesus the Holy Spirit comes
to you, to bring you to faith in your Saviour
and to make you a happy child of God and
a blessed heir of heaven. Do not resist the
Holy Spirit; for of that Spirit only can you
be born again.

qs +o oo oe

No Counterfeit Infidels.

“Did you ever see a counterfeit ten-dollar
bill?””

“*Yes.””

“Why was it counterfeited ?”’

“Because the genuine bill was worth counter-
feiting.””

“Did you ever see a scrap of brown paper
counterfeited ?””

“No.”

“Why not?”

‘Because it was not worth counterfeiting.’’

‘Did you ever see a counterfeit Christian?”

‘Yes.’”

‘*Why was he counterfeited ?””

‘‘Because.he was worth counterfeiting.””

‘tWas he to blame for the counterfeiting ?””

‘*Of course not.’” ;

‘Pid: you ever see a counterfeit infidel ?’”

‘Why, no.”

“Why not?”

Selected.