The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1902, Page 5

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

‘Vol. XXIV.

The Xutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY

MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SynopicaL ConFreRENCE or Nortu AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

St. Louis, Mo., February, 1902.

No. 2.

Our Shepherd.

Jesus Is our Shepherd,
Well we know His voice;
How the gentlest whisper
Makes our hearts rejoice!
Even when He chideth,
Tender is His tone,
None but He shall guide us;
We are His alone.

Jesus is our Shepherd;
Guarded by His arm,
Though the wolves may raven,
None can do us harm.
When we tread death’s valley,
Dark with fearful gloom,
We will fear no evil,
Victors o’er the tomb.

Jesus is our Shepherd;
With His goodness now
And His tender mercy
He doth us endow.
Let us sing His praises
With a gladsome heart,
Till in Heaven we meet Him,

Nevermore to part.
Selected.

—.—-- eee

Forgiveness.

The sins of God’s people are not only for-
given — they are also forgotten.

An earthly sovereign once said when grant-
ing a pardon, ‘‘I forgive, but I cannot forget.”’
If God acted thus, we could never be happy
in His presence; but He says, ‘‘Their sins and
their iniquities will I remember no more,”’
Hebr. 8, 12. Thus the believer can dwell in
liberty in His presence, and rejoice in His
grace.

The sins which God forgives, are ALL sins.

God does not say He forgives only this or
that sin, butsrns. ‘Through this Man (Jesus)
is preached unto you forgiveness of sins; and
by Him all that believe are justified from all
things,” Acts 18, 88. 89. The two ‘‘alls’”’ in
this verse take in every believer, and every-
thing, all who believe are justified from all
things. Whether it be strong faith or weak
faith is not the question; but, do we believe?
And, if we do believe, the question is not
great sins or small sins, but all sins; nay,
God; in His grace, has spoken of things —

not gross sins merely, but every kind of thing
which we have done against His command-
ments, so that the believer’s conscience may
be at rest and his heart rejoice before Him.

The perfect work of Christ embraces all
sins. Could it do less? In the balances of
God we find that our sins, however heavy, are
nothing at all in view of the preciousness of
Christ’s blood. The grievous hindrance to
our rejoicing in God’s forgiveness is unbelief
in what Christ has done, and in God’s grace
which forgives all sins.

God knew every one of our sins when He
‘laid on Him the iniquity of us all,”’ Is. 53, 6;
and Jesus endured the weight of them all when
‘‘His own self bare our sins in His own body
on the tree,’’ 1 Pet. 2, 24.

Where, then, are your sins, believer? They
are not upon you, for God laid them upon
Jesus. They are not upon Jesus, for He has
borne them andisin glory. Where, then, are
your sins? They are gone. Rest in the work
of Christ, believe and rejoice. Your sins are
forgiven you for His name’s sake! You have
the forgiveness of sins through Christ; you
are one of God’s blessed people. ‘‘Blessed are
they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose
sins are covered.”’

2+ oa 9

“Only a Few Days More.”

A merchant was hurrying one stormy morn-
ing through a strange city, thinking of his late
heavy losses, when his attention was arrested
by a hoarse voice, ‘‘Matches, fine matches, two
boxes for a fip!”” He turned and saw on the
street corner, before alittle stand, an old col-
ored man bracing himself against the wind.
His hair was as white as the snow falling at his
feet, but he had a good, pleasant face, and the
stranger stopped to buy matches. While pass-
ing over the change, he kindly asked the old
man wether the cold did not prove too much
forhim. He said that he was quite used to it,
having made his living for many years by sell-
ing matches. He grew quite talkative and
spoke of his cabin in which he had lived seven-
teen years, always content with the little he
had. The gentleman, who for many years

had found his own comfort in the Gospel of
Christ, could not pass on without expressing
a hope that the poor old man had something
beyond this world to cheer him. At this the
old man’s face lighted up, and he said that he
had—that his trust was in Jesus, the sinner’s
Saviour, and that through God’s Word he was
sure of everlasting rest and happiness as soon
as his little toil here was ended. He smiled
as he added, in the same husky tone, ‘‘Only a
few days more, sir, only a few days more.’’
As the merchant went on his way, a change
passed over him. His cares were gone. Asa
Christian he had wished to teach the poor old
colored man, but he had taken away more than
he gave. He had learned the lesson of con-
tentment and of sure hope, and this filled his
heart with joy when far away. He could see
with a brighter eye the peace and joy awaiting
him in the eternal home, and when sorrows
came, he would think of that poor old colored
man and would say to himself, ‘‘Only a few
days more, only a few days more.’’
0 1 om te

The Power of Christ's Love. —

The American missionary, Dr. Chamberlain,
narrates an experience of his in India:

When we came to the city Hyderabad to
preach the Gospel, the people rose against us
and threatened to cast us out if we preached
about any other god than their idols. .I saw
them picking up stones, ready at a moment’s
notice to cast them at us. I begged them to
let me tell them a story, after which they might
stone me if they desired. At last they con-
sented. As they gathered around me with the
stones still in their hands, I told them of the
wonderful life of Jesus, and especially of His
sufferings and death. While I yet spoke, the
people went and threw their stones into the
gutter and came back to me, while down the
face of the man who had been loudest in de-
manding my death, flowed tears. I told them
again they might stone meif they wished. But
they would not, but answered: ‘*We had no

idea you would tell us such a wonderful story.”
re 8

‘Te Psalms of David are a most excellent de-
scription of faith, hope, and charity.—Luther,