The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1900, Page 37

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Che Autheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SynopicaL ConFERENCE oF Nortn AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XXII. St. Louis, Mo., October, 1900.

No. 10.

Thou Art My All. under heaven given among men whereby we
must be saved.’’ This name he made known
to others and thus became the Reformer of the
church. He saw that in the Romish church
the people were led, not on the true way of
salvation, but into ways in which they must
be lost. He could not keep silent whilst thou-
sands were cheated out of their salvation by
the false doctrines of the Romish church.
With voice and pen he made known the say-
ing Gospel of Jesus which he had learned from
the Bible. In all his sermons and writings it
was his aim to proclaim and defend the Bible-
answer to the question, How can I be saved?
He preached Christ as the only Saviour in
whom sinners can find salvation. Through
the blessed service of Dr. Luther many thou-
sands of sinners found salvation in Christ and
rejoiced with thankful hearts.

We still have the Gospel which God restored
to His church through His servant Dr. Martin
Luther. We still have an open Bible, from
which we learn that salvation is in Christ only.
Not in the virgin Mary, not in the saints, not
in man, butin Christ only. ‘‘He bore our sins
in His own body.’’ ‘‘By His stripes we are
healed.’? Therefore ‘‘he that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life.’” Do you believe in
Him? If you do not believe in Him, if you do
not trust in Him as your only Saviour, you
may call yourself a Christian, or a Lutheran,
put you are no true Christian, no true Lu-
theran. ‘Therefore, I beseech you, if you care
for your soul’s eternal welfare, trust solely
and only in Christ. In Him only there is sal-
yation—a sure, and certain, and everlasting
salvation.

rock —a wall of rock lying on each side. Sud-
denly the steam whistle screamed as if in ag-
ony, ‘‘put on the brakes! put on the brakes!’’
Up pressed the brakes, but with no apparent
slackening of the cars. Every window flew
open, and every head that could be was thrust
out to see what the danger was, and every one
rose up in his place, fearing sudden destruc-
tion. What was the trouble?

Just as the engine began to turn in the
curve, the engineer saw a little girl and her
baby brother playing on the track. In a mo-
ment the cars would be on them; the shriek
of the whistle startled the little girl, and every
eye looking over could see them. Close to the
rail, in the upright rock, was a little niche,
out of which a piece of rock had been blasted.
In an instant the baby was thrust into this
niche, and as the cars came thundering by,
the passengers, holding their breath, heard the
clear voice of the little sister, on the other side
of the cars, ring out, ‘‘Cling close to the rock,
Johnny! cling close to the rock!’’ And the
little creature snuggled in and put his head as
close to the corner of the rock as possible,
while the.heavy cars whirred past him. And
many were the moist eyes that gazed, and
many a silent thanksgiving went up to heayen.

In a few hours the cars stopped at a station,
where an old man and his son got out of the
cars. He had come so far to part with his
child, who was going to an eastern city to live,
while the aged father was to turn back to his
home. All the dangers that would harass the
son seemed to crowd into the heart of the
father, as he stood holding the hand of his
boy —just now to part with him. He choked,
and the tears filled his eyes, and all he could
say was, ‘Cling close to the Rock, my son!’”
He wrung the hand of his child, and the pas-
sengers saw him standing alone, doubtless
praying that his inexperienced son might
“cling close to the Rock Christ Jesus!”

—_———s oor oe _

“Cyrist1ans should live in the world, but
not be filled with it. A ship lives in the water,
put if the water gets into the ship, she goes
to the bottom. So Christians may live in the
world; but if the world gets into them, they
sink.”

Jesus, my Saviour, look on me,
For I am weary and oppressed,
I come to cast myself on Thee —
Thou art my rest.

Look down on me, for I am weak,
I feel the toilsome journey’s length,
Thine aid omnipotent I seek —
Thou art my strength.

I am bewildered on my way,
Dark and tempestuous is the night,
O send Thou forth some cheering ray —
Thou art my light.

Standing alone on Jordan’s brink,

In that tremendous latest strife,

Thou wilt not suffer me to sink—
Thou art my life.

Thou wilt my every want supply
E’en to the end, whate’er befall,
Through life, in death, eternally,

Thou art my all.
5 Macduff.

<—>e- eo -

Only in Christ.

The paramount question, the supreme ques-
tion, the most important question for every
sinner is: How can I be saved? ‘This is the
question which troubled Martin Luther, and
to which he in vain sought the true answer in
the Romish church. His heart was rent with
the anxious inquiry, How can I be saved? and
in order to find salvation, he went the way
which the Romish church told him to go. He
entered the cloister, he fasted and prayed, he
heard and said mass, he labored and suffered ;
but it was all in vain. He found no rest, no
Peace, no salvation. At last God opened to
him the Bible, which for ages had been hidden
from the people. In this blessed book Luther
found the only true answer to the question,
How can I be saved? He learned that salva-
tion is not in man’s works and holiness, but
in Christ only. By faith in Christ he found
salvation, and his heart was filled with peace
and rest and joy. The name of Jesus, at
which he before had trembled as at the name
of a severe judge, now became to him the
Sweetest of all names; for he had learned
from the Bible that ‘there is none other name

—_—_— oo ee

“Cling Close to the Rock.”

A long train of cars, fourteen or fifteen,
was passing over the Allegheny mountains, on
their way eastward. They were crowded with
passengers. As the iron horse snorted and
rushed on, they began to feel that they had
pegun to descend, and needed no power, but
the invisible power of gravitation, to send them
down with terrific swiftness. Just as the pas-
sengers began to realize their situation, they
came to a short curve, cut out of the solid