The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1903, Page 25

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LutuERAN SynopicAL CoNFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.

Vol. XXV.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

St. Louis, Mo., July, 1908.

“Come Unto Me.”

“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.” Matt. 11, 28.

There are no words like these words; how blessed
they be,

How calming when Jesus says, ‘‘Come unto me.”’

Oh, hear them, my heart, they were spoken to thee,

And still they are calling thee —‘‘Come unto me.”

I will walk through the world with these words on
my heart;

Through sorrow or sin they shall never depart;

And when dying, I know He will whisper to me,

“1 have loved thee, and saved thee; come, sinner,
to me.” Paxton Hood.

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Do You Trust Jesus?

Do you trust Jesus? If not, why do you
not trust Him? He is surely worthy of your
trust. He is the sinners’ best friend —the
only true friend. He laid down His life for
sinners. None can do more. In the Gospel
He invites sinners with the sweet assurance,
“Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise
cast out.’’? No sinner in the wide world that
came to Jesus, trusting in Him for forgive-
ness and salvation, was ever cast out. Even
the chief of sinners was welcomed and made
happy. No matter who you are and what you
are, you may trust in Jesus for forgiveness
and salvation. He will not, He cannot deceive
you. There is no reason whatever why you
should not trust Him. :

A young man‘once came to an aged pastor
with the question, ‘‘What shall I do to be
saved ?””

The pastor replied, ‘‘You know what the
answer is: ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved.’’”

‘But,’’ said the young man, ‘T cannot be-
lieve in Jesus Christ.”

“Well, now,’’ said the old pastor, ‘Slook
here, I haye believed in Him a good many
years, and I do trust Him; but if you know
something or other against Him, I should
like to know it, for I do not like to be de-
ceived.”’

“No, sir, I do not know anything agains
Him,” said the young man.

‘‘Why don’t you trust Him, then?’ said
the pastor; ‘‘could you trust me?’’

‘*Yes,’’ replied the young man, ‘‘I would
trust you with anything.”’ :

“But you don’t know much about me,’’ said
the pastor.

‘“No, not much,” answered the young man,
‘tonly I know you are a preacher of the Word,
and I believe you are honest and I could trust
you.’’

“Do you mean to say,” ssid the pastor,
“that you would trust me, and then tell me
that you cannot trust Jesus Christ? You
must have found out something bad about
Him. Let me know it.’’

The young man stood still and thought for
a moment, and then said, ‘‘I can see it now.
Why, of course I can trust Him. I cannot
help trusting Him. He is such a blessed,
truthful Saviour that I must trust Him. Good-
bye, sir; it is all right now.”

That young man was a theological student,
and later became an earnest, ardent preacher of
the Gospel, leading many souls to the Saviour.

Jesus is a friend indeed,
The very friend that sinners need.

Trust Him and in Him believe!
He will never you deceive.

——— —- oe

God Loves Us.

‘Some years ago two gentlemen were riding
together, and as they were about to separate,
one addressed the other thus: ‘Do you ever
read your Bible?’

““rYes; but I get no benefit from it, be-
cause, to tell you the truth, I feel I do not
love God.’

‘(No more did I,’ replied the other, ‘but
God loved me.’

“This answer produced such an effect upon
his friend that, to use his own words, it was
as if one had lifted him off the saddle into the
skies. It opened up to his soul at once the
great truth that it is not how much I love God,
but how much God loves me.”’

This is, indeed, the great truth: ‘‘For God
so loved the world” —the guilty, sinful, ruined
world—‘‘that He gave His only-begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not

perish, but have everlasting life,’’ John 3. 16.
“Tn this was manifested the love of God toward
us, because that God sent His only-begatten
Son into the world, that we might live through
Him. Herein is love, not that we loved (od,
but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be
the propitiation for our sins,’”’ 1 John 4, 9. 10.
‘*We love Him, because He first loved us,’?
1John4, 19. Do not imagine that you must
love Him first, in order to make Him love you
in return, so that His love to you is a reward
for your love to Him. No. The Apostle says,
‘“‘We love Him, because He first loved us.’’
The devil would like to persuade us that God
cannot love us first, and that we cannot come
to Him just as we are; but ‘*he is a liar and
the father of it.”” And when he whispers to
your soul that you must do something and
make yourself better and get to be something
different from what you now are before God
can love you, he is whispering a lie. God
loves you, the sinner, and when He sees you
afar off, He yearns over you with unutterable
tenderness, and longs to take you to His heart
of love and make you happy for ever.

————- oe

Come to Jesus.

Jesus says: ‘‘I am the Bread of Life; he
that cometh to me shall never hunger; and
he that believeth on me shall never thirst,’’
John6,35. O hungry and thirsty ones, heed
the loving voice of your Saviour. All the
pleasures and all the treasures of this world
cannot truly satisfy your souls. There is a
hunger which only Jesus can satisfy, a thirst
which none but Jesus can quench. Come to
Him with all your sins and doubts and fears
and questionings, and learn the meaning of
the precious invitation, ‘‘ Whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely,’’ Rey. 22, 17.
Come to Him, who is willing and mighty to
save. ‘Then can you enter into the gladness
of those who confess:

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus only,

Can my heart-felt longing still;
Without Him my soul is lonely,
And I wish what Jesus will.

For my heart, which He hath filled,
Ever cries: Lord, as Thou wilt.