The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1902, Page 25

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

Ghe Autheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLIsHED BY THE HvaNncELicaL Lutmeran SynopicaL ConFERENCE OF Nort AMeErica

He Leadeth Me.

In joyful paths not always—sometimes He
Who knoweth best, in sorrow leadeth me
Through weary ways, where heavy shadows be.

Out of the sunshine warm and soft and bright,
Out of the sunshine into darkest night.
I oft would faint with sorrow and affright —

Only for this: I know He holds my hand,

And though the way be through a dark and dreary
land,

I trust, although I may not understand.

So, down the shadowy vale my lonely way I go,
And in the hereafter I shall know
Why in His wisdom He hath led me so.

Selected.
—s +o or eo

“Strive to Enter in at the Strait Gate!”

So did the Saviour once say to a man in
answer to the question, ‘‘Lord, are there few
that be saved?” ;

“Strive to enter in at the strait gate!”’ This
is the exhortation which Jesus also addresses
to you. And how can you ignore these words
since the Bible and your own experience give
you the plainest proof that many ,are on the
way to perdition, hastening to the wide gate
which opens unto eternal death, while only
few find the way to eternal life through the
strait gate beyond which are the glories of
heaven! How can you go on carelessly ignor-
ing the danger which has caused thousands,
yea, millions to perish? In this matter it is
either victory or death. If you will not strive
you cannot win; the heavenly Canaan will not
be yours, but bondage eternal in the Egypt
of hell. Therefore, ‘Strive to enter in at the
strait gate!’’

“Strive to enter in at the strait gate!”’ Con-
sider the end of those who neglect to enter in
at this gate, an end of unspeakable and end-
less woe! Have you never yet seen them car-
ried away suddenly to their doom? Have you
never witnessed their despairing wringing of
hands? Have you never heard their agoniz-
ing cries of terror, or beheld their awful fear
in the hour of death? Know you nothing of
the trumpet’s tone that will awaken them on
the last day and cite them to judgment — of
the voice of thunder that will condemn them

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

St. Louis, Mo, July, 1902.

to endless torture—of their useless wailing
—of the smoke of their torment that will as-
cend up forever from the pit burning with
everlasting sulphur? You stand before an
abyss; its depth is incalculable —a lake of fire
is roaring below—poisonous vapor it sends
forth — horrid rumblings arise from its depths.
Thousands of voices warn you; will you dis-
regard all this? For your soul’s salvation,
“strive to enter in at the strait gate!’’

“Strive to enter in at the strait gate!’’ How
dare you despise this call, since you know not
when the day of judgment will come? Know
you when the lightning will flash down out of
the black cloud? But know that the coming
of the Son of man will be just as sudden. Do
the birds know when the snare of the fowler
will eatch them, or the fox when the trap will
hold it fast? But know that as a snare will
the day of the Lord come upon all that dwell
on earth. Know you at what hour the thief
will enter your house? But St. Paul and
St. Peter both tell us that the last day will
come as a thief-in the night. In view of this,
will you be careless and heedless enough to
continue in the way of sin? Dare we follow
the example of the unfaithful servant who said,
‘My master will not yet come,” and then beat
his fellow servants and ate and drank with
the drunken? If we did so, could we expect
aught but what he received—to be cast out
where there will be wailing and gnashing of
teeth forever? Therefore I repeat, ‘‘Strive to
enter in at the strait gate!”’

‘Strive to enter in at the strait gate!’’? You
know that you must die, but when, and how,
and where you know not. There is nothing
more certain than death, but know you when
it will call you? There is nothing more sure
than death, but know you where it yill over-
take you? Nothing is more sure to come than
death, but know you how it will come to
you? O strive, then, that you enter in at the
strait gate!

But which is the ‘‘strait gate’” by which we
are to enter? Christ gives us the answer;
He says, ‘‘I am the door: by me if any man
enter in, he shall be saved.’ Hear it, Osinner,
Christ, the crucified Saviour, is the open door
toheaven! ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,

and thou shalt be saved.’’ ‘‘God so loved the
world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him, should not
perish, but have everlasting life.’’

F. J. L.

—_— soe oe

The Charm of Luther’s Catechism.

Dr. Rudelbach tells us that Henrick Schartau
(died 1825) during his catechizations in Lund,
the seat of a Swedish university, was privileged
to behold a sight at which the angels in heaven
must have rejoiced. High officials of the State
and professors took their places among the as-
sembled children and young people, and being
overpowered by the Word, they did not merely
listen attentively as those who are eager for
salvation, but they also gave answers to the
questions which were put. In addition they
wrote out the whole catechization, and the ser-
mon that was preached after it, so carefully
that the lectures and the questions of their
gifted teacher could be reproduced from their
notes. These men became as little children
according to the mind of the Saviour, in order
that they might enter the kingdom of heaven,
Matt. 18, 3.

2 + oo - —

A Gospel Message.

A young man had been for some time under
a sense of sin and could find no peace, for he
knew not the Gospel. He was a telegraph
clerk, and being in the oflice one morning, he
had to receive and transmit a telegram. To his
great surprise, he spelled out these words:
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world.’’ A gentleman out for a
holiday was telegraphing a message in answer
to a letter from a friend who was in trouble
of soul. This Gospel message was meant for
another, but the telegraph clerk received ever-
lasting life from it; for the Holy Spirit applied
the words to his troubled heart and thus gave
him peace and consolation.

a et ee

WHEN Melanchthon, on his dying bed, was
asked whether he still desired anything, he
replied; ‘Nothing but heaven.’?