The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1901, Page 1

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Ghe Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE HyANGELICAL LUTHERAN SynopICAL CONFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XXII.

St. Louis, Mo., January, 1901.

No. 1.

In God’s Hand.

Our times are in Thy hand,
Father, we wish them there;

Our life, our soul, our all, we leave
Entirely to Thy care.

Our times are in Thy hand,
Whatever they may be,

Pleasing or painful, dark or bright,
As best may seem to Thee.

Our times are in Thy hand,
Why should we doubt or fear?

A Father’s hand will never cause
His child a needless tear.

Our times are in Thy hand,
Jesus, the crucified!

The hand our many sins had pierced
Is now our guard and guide.

Our times are in Thy hand,
Jesus, the Advocate!

Nor can that hand be stretched in vain
For us to supplicate.

Our times are in Thy hand,
We'd always trust in Thee,

Till we have left this weary land,

And all Thy glory .sce.
PLOY Selected.

—_—> +o 0 -

Jesus.

The name Jesus greets us at the beginning
of a new year and at the opening of a new
century. It is a precious name, that name
Jesus. It was given to the Child born at
Bethlehem, not by men, but by God Himself
through an angel who was sent to Joseph
with the command, ‘‘Thou shalt call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from
their sins.”” No one may here say, What is
there ina name? In this name, given by God
Himself, there is everything we need. Jesus
means Saviour, and He to whom this name
was given really is what the name means.
“Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins.’? He was
called Jesus, because He is Jesus, the Saviour.

We read in history of men who were called
Saviours, because they saved their people
from some enemy. Washington is called the
saviour of his country, and we once heard a
colored speaker call Lincoln the saviour of
the colored race. Such saviours are only

temporal deliverers from some temporal evil,
but in all the centuries there has never been
such a Saviour as He that was called Jesus
by God’s own command. He saves from sin,
the root of all ill, the source of all our woe.
Sin is the evil of all evils. It drove Adam
and Eve out of Paradise and made this earth
a land of toil, and sorrow, and tears, and
graves. There is no enemy like sin. It de-
stroys both body and soul and ruins for
time and eternity. It makes men slaves and
drags them down into everlasting damnation.
Throughout the centuries we behold every-
where the ruin and devastation wrought by sin.

Thanks be to God, we have a Saviour from
sin. Christ came to overcome that monster.
He was called Jesus, because He was to save
His people from their sins. In what way He
did this; through what great sufferings and
agony He had to pass, we know. He was
made under the law and perfectly fulfilled in
our stead every commandment which we had
broken. He took all our sins upon Himself
and suffered the punishment which we de-
served. This He did for sinners and thus re-
deemed every sinner from the curse of the
law and from the punishment of sin. In Him
we now have forgiveness of sins and life ever-
lasting.

What a blessed message this is: ‘‘His name
was called Jesus.’’ In that name we have
all we need. How sweet it sounds! Through
all the changing scenes of our pilgrimage it
comforts when no other will; even in death
Jesus is often the last name lisped by the
dying one, and causes a smile of joy even
as life ebbs away. ‘‘I am going to be with
Jesus,” have been the last joyful words of
many a child of God.

Believe in Jesus, and in that name you will
have the waters of salvation which wash away
all your sins. Believe in Jesus, and that
name will be to you full of comfort and peace
in all trials and sorrows of life. Believe in
Jesus, and that name will be to you a safe
guide throughout your pilgrimage. Believe
in Jesus, and when death comes, that name
will give you the victory over death and the
grave and will bring you the joys of ever-
lasting life.

Abide in Jesus.

‘And now, little children, abide in Him;
that, when He shall appear, we may have con-
fidence, and not be ashamed before Him at
His coming,’’ 1 John 2, 28.

How solemn and touching is this appeal at
the beginning of a new year! Christ is com-
ing, and it may be, this year, this month, this
week; for nothing remains to be fulfilled, be-
fore His shout may be heard, calling us to
Himself. Should that shout be heard now,
would it find the state of our heart such to-
ward our Lord, toward our brethren, and to-
ward the world, that we would have confidence
at His appearing, or would we be ashamed
before Him at His coming?

Well might an sged Christian write, ‘‘Let
us then be always abiding in Him; every day,
every hour, every instant; even as we would
wish to be found abiding in Him, were He
to appear this very day, this very hour, this
very instant. He is about to appear; to ap-
pear suddenly; to come quickly. Oh! let us
see to it, that as we would not wish Him to
come when we were in such a state as to cause
shrinking from Him in shame; as we would
rather that when He appears we were in a
position to spring forward with keen eye and
outstretched arm—to welcome in all confi-
dence Him whom we love; let us see to it
that we ‘abide in Him.’”

New Every Morning.

“The Lord’s mercies are new every morn-
ing.”? What an assurance this is to carry with
us in all our wayfaring through the world!
The future is always dark tous. The shadows
brood over it. A veil hides it from our sight.
What is under the shadows, what is behind
the veil, none of us can know. We have no
anxious questions to ask. This is enough for
all that is coming: ‘‘The Lord’s mercies are
new every morning.” Take up each day as it
comes, certain of this, that, whatever it lays
upon you to door bear, it will bring new mer-
cies for new deeds. L. S.

mPa Eft

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