The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1901, Page 41

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Che Autheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PusiisHep BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNoDICAL CONFERENCE OF Norts AMERICA.

Jerusalem, My Happy ‘Home.

Jerusalem, my happy home!
Name ever dear to me!

When shall my labors have an end,
In joy, and peace, and thee?

When shall these eyes thy heaven-built walls
And pearly gates behold,

Thy bulwarks with salvation strong,
And streets of shining gold?

Oh, when, thou city of my God,
Shall I thy courts ascend,

Where congregations ne’er break up,
And Sabbaths have no end?

Why should I shrink at pain and woe,
Or feel at death dismay ?

T’ve Canaan’s goodly land in view,
And realms of endless day.

Apostles, martyrs, prophets, there
Around my Saviour stand;

And soon my friends in Christ below
Will join the glorious band.

Jerusalem, my happy home!
My soul still pants for thee!
Then shall my labors have an end

When I thy joys shall see.
tt) Selected.

—_—- Po oe _

The Touch of Faith.

When our Lord was visibly here on earth,
a sick woman who ‘had suffered many things
of many physicians, and had spent all that she
had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew
worse, when she had heard of Jesus came in
the press behind, and touched His garment;
for she said, If I may touch but His clothes,
T shall be whole,”’ Mark 5, 26—28.

The woman was not only sick, helplessly
and hopelessly sick, but also unclean accord-
ing to the Jewish law. What a burden life
must have been to her! She was shunned like
the plague on account of her sickness. Shehad
suffered so much at the hands of many physi-
cians, and had spent all that she had, and
was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse!
Surely, she is a striking picture of @ soul
aroused to the discovery of its own ruin and
to the worthlessness of man as a deliverer.

But in her despair help was near. Jesus of
Nazareth was passing along, surrounded, as

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

usual, by a great crowd. The woman did not
stop to think about her feelings or doings or
anything within herself. She thought of Jesus
only. She firmly believed that Jesus could and
would cure her, and the cure of her dreadful
sickness was what she wanted. So she slipped
through the throng and with her trembling
hand touched the hem of His garment; for
she said, “If I may touch but His garment,
I shall be whole.’”? Her touch was a touch of
faith, and therefore it brought the desired
blessing. Instantly she was perfectly healed,
and Christ said to her, ‘Daughter, thy faith
hath made thee whole.”’

Such is the power of faith which lays hold
of Christ. It brings salvation; for salvation
is in Christ: ~ ‘There is no help for the sinner
in himself or in any man. When seeking help
in himself or in man, the sinner is not bettered,
but rather grows worse. In Jesus only there
is help and salvation. The moment the sinner
by faith lays hold of Christ in the Gospel, he
is made whole, he is saved. And this salya-
tion does not depend on the strength of the
sinner’sfaith. ‘The weakest and feeblest touch
of faith brings the blessing. It was certainly
a weak and trembling hand with which the
poor woman touched the hem of Christ’s gar-
ment, but she was instantly healed. Her help
lay not in the strength of her grasp, but in
the strong Saviour whose garment she touched.
The power to cure her went out of Him in re-
sponse to her feeble touch of faith.

Troubled sinner, in the Gospel Jesus our
Saviour lets fall, as it were, His garments very
near thee and invites thy touch. He does not
bid thee stay away until thy hand hecomes
strong, but in response to the touch of the
weakest hand He gently says, “Thy faith hath
made thee whole; goin peace.” May He give
us to see that it is Himself who saves, and
keep us from the folly of making 4 work out
of faith, which at its best is but the weak hand
of a perishing beggar stretched forth in the
power of the Holy Ghost to receive the free
gift of eternal life. May we enter more fully
into the experience of the happy old saint,
who, when asked if she was the woman of
strong faith, promptly replied, “No, Iam the
woman of weak faith in a strong Saviour !”?

“A Word in Season.”

One day a missionary in India was going
out into a country village to preach. He did
not take the horsecars, as people in one of our
cities would do, but’ called his native servant
to bring the palanquin. This is a kind of car-
riage, borne by two or more natives on their
shoulders by means of a pole passing through
the center.

When he reached his journey’s end, he said
kindly to the men who had brought him:

“Now, you have carried me so safely over
this rough way, I want to tell you of one
who will carry all your sins and burdens for
you.’” :

They listened eagerly as he told them of
Jesus and His death on the cross. A few weeks
afterward, one of the men came to the mis-
sionary’s house, and begged to be the bearer
of his palanquin for life. It was a strange
request, and the missionary inquired what it
meant.

‘“‘Well,”” said the man, ‘‘I want to help you
preach.’’

‘‘Help me! How can you 2? was the next
question.

“In this way,”” replied the man; ‘‘many
will not go to hear you; and; while I am wait-
ing, they will gather around me, and I will
preach too.””

So now he accompanies his master in all
his tours, and tells the Gospel story to little
groups.

—_—_—.> oor a

Simple Faith.

I was once called, said Mr. Jay, to attend
the dying bed of a young female. In answer
to my inquiries, she replied: “J have little to
say as to my experience. I haye been much
tried and tempted; but this is my sheet-
anchor: —Jesus hath said, ‘Him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out.’ I know I
came to Him, and I know He will be as good
as His word. Poor and unworthy as I am,
He will not trifle with me nor deceive me. It
would be beneath His greatness as well as
goodness.”