The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1901, Page 25

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

Ce ie SA a

he Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PusiisHED BY THE EvANGELICAL LUTHERAN SynopIcAL CoNnFERENCE or NortH AMERICA.

Step by Step.

'Tis so sweet to walk with Jesus,
Step by step and day by day;

Stepping in His very footprints,
Walking with Him all the way.

*Tis so safe to walk with Jesus,
Leaning hard upon His arm,

Following closely where He leads us,
None can hurt and naught can harm.

Step by step I’ll walk with Jesus,
Just a moment at a time,

Heights I have not wings to soar to,
Step by step my feet can climb.

Here awhile we walk with Jesus,
But the time will not be long

Till the night shall change to morning,
And the sorrow into song.

Then, with all who walked with Jesus,
We shall walk with Him in white,
While He turns our grief to gladness,

And our darkness into light.

Jesus, keep me closer, closer,
Step by step, and day by day;
Stepping in Thy very footprints,
Walking with Thee all the way.
Selected.
——_—~«

What Christ Was to Him.

“Christ is my Sumatanga,’”’ said a native
Christian in India, expressing in his own way
what Christ was to him. But what did he
mean? What is a Sumatanga? Let me tell
you. In some parts of India there are pro-
vided along the road resting places for those
who carry heavy loads on the head, as many
have to do. These rests have a high shelf,
upon which the man can easily shift off the
heavy burden that he is carrying. Then be-
neath there is a shaded seat, where he can
sit down and rest and gain strength. Such a
resting place is called Sumatanga. Do you see
what that native Christian meant when he said,
“Christ is my Sumatanga?”’

Christ was to him the burden-bearer. By
faith in Christ he had got rid of the heavy
burden of sin. So every man that wants to

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

St. Louis, Mo, July, 1901.

Our sins are more than the sands on the strand
of the sea, they are more than the stars in
the sky. If we do not get rid of our sins, that
burden will bear us down into everlasting dam-
nation. But, thank God, we have a burden-
bearer. Christ bore the burden of our sins
on the cross. Of Him the prophet says, ‘‘He
hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”
“The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of
us all.’’
“O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy head!
Our load was laid on Thee;
Thou stoodest in the sinner’s stead,
Bearing all ill for me;
A victim led, Thy blood was shed!
Now there’s no load for me!”

No load for you, if you thus by faith behold
in Christ the One who bore your sin and re-
deemed you from all its woe. How happy you
will be! With Christ you may leave every
other burden. What is it that weighs upon
your mind? Be not afraid to leave it all with
Jesus. Anxiety for the future, losses and dis-
appointments, everything that troubles you —
leave all with Jesus. ‘Cast all your care upon
Him; for He careth for you.”

But to the native Christian in India Christ
was not only the burden-bearer, but the One
at whose feet he found rest and strength. So
we must daily find rest and refreshment and
strength at Jesus’ feet. ‘‘I sat down under
His shadow with great delight,’’ says the bride
in theSong of Solomon. As Mary sat at Jesus’
feet, listening to His words, so we must sit at
His feet, listening to'the words He speaks to
us'in the Gospel. There we find rest from our
daily toils and struggles, and strength for our
further journey until we enter our heavenly
rent: «When unto Thee I flee,

Thou wilt my refuge be,
Jesus, my Lord;
What need I now to fear,
What earthly grief or care
Since Thou art ever near,
Jesus, my Lord?”’

Ir is by no means as important that things

get rid of his burdens must behold in Christ| go our way as it is that they go God’s way.

his burden-bearer. There is the burden of our
sins, What a large and heavy burden it is!

Think of this the next time things are against
you.

No. 7.

‘ The Gospel.

The Gospel is such a bright light that by
means of it we are able to look into the heart
of God, to discern the very thought of the
devil, to see the true nature of sin and the
way to be freed from it, to see death and the
escape from it, to recognize the world as it
really is and the way to flee from it.

The Gospel makes us righteous before God
and crucifies us before the world, it is a word
of salvation and a word of tribulation, a word
of wisdom and a word of foolishness.

The worst enemies of the Gospel are to be
found among the wisest and best people in the
sightof men. The more they rely on their vir-
tues and good works’ and the praise of men,
the more they hate the Gospel. :

The hardest punishment is this, when God
withholds His Gospel from any man or nation.
What is done by them is nothing else but sin,
error, and darkness. But the greatest mercy
is this, when He sends His Gospel, for it will
bear good fruits of grace and peace.

It is the nature of the Gospel that, wherever
it is preached, there will be three hearers who
hear it in vain and are lost, and only one heeds
it and is saved. .Luke 8, 4—15. '

Christ does not release the hand from its
labor, the person from its calling, or the
body from its functions, but He delivers the
soul from delusion and conscience from false
beliefs.

The Gospel is like unto a freight wagon, on
which Christ is carried to us with His righteous-
ness and all His mercies. — Dr. M. Luther.

oi 6 Re

Sin and the Sinner.

When the apostle speaks about sinners who
believed in Christ, he says, ‘‘Ye who some-
times were far off are made nigh by the blood
of Christ ;’’ but when he speaks about sin, he
says, -‘‘that Christ appeared to put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself.”

Thus the sin which God hates He puts away,
and the sinner whom He loves He brings nigh,
and all through the blood of His dear Son!

Have you been made nigh by the blood o
Christ? 3 =:

|
: