The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1904, Page 43

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 43

It is truth that saves, not sincerity. The truth
blesses, falsehood damns. Away with the hateful
error—that sincerity will answer for truth! God
has not so spoken. The Bible says, ‘‘He that hath
the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son’’—no
matter what else he has, and how sincerely he holds
on to it—‘‘he that hath not the Son hath not life.”’

——~ o> -

Prayer.

The cry and sigh of the heart raises a clamor
that not only God but all the angels in heaven must
hear. Thus, Moses was dismayed when he came
to the Red Sea. He cried with trembling, shud-
dering, and dismay, and nevertheless did not open
His mouth. ‘‘O Lord God,’”’ he said, ‘‘what shall
I do now? How can I find my way out? I am the
cause that all this people will be here miserably
murdered. There is no help nor counsel. Before
us is the sea; behind us are our foes, the Egyptians ;
on both sides high mountains. It is all over with
us.’? Then God answered, ‘‘ Wherefore criest thou
unto me?”’? Ex. 14, 13—15.

But we read their example as if they were a dead
letter. sf

Moses must have heaved a great sigh, that he
filled therewith the ears of God. It is contrary to
all which reason could have expected that they went
through the Red Sea. For their way through the
Red Sea is as broad as from Wittenberg to Coburg,
or at least from Wittenberg to Magdeburg. In the
night, moreover, they must have rested and eaten.
For six hundred thousand men, not including
women and children, even if they went three hun-
dred and fifty, or even five hundred abreast, must
have taken time.

Thus the cry of Moses seemed to Moses indeed .

little, but to God great. — Luther.

“By the Law is the Knowledge of Sin,”
Rom. 3, 20.-

When the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, which
treats of God’s holy Law, was read to the first
Burman convert, he was deeply affected. ‘“These
words,”? he said, ‘‘take hold of my very heart; they
make me tremble. Here God commands us to do
everything that is good in secret, not to be seen of
men. When Burmang make offerings, they make
a great noise with drums and cymbals, that others
may see how good they are. Oh, what great sin-
ners we are!’’

.

The Necessity of a New Heart.

The Indian chief Teedynscurg, King of the Del-
awares, was one evening sitting at the fireside of
a friend. Each, buried in deep thoughts, was si-
lently looking at the fire. At length the silence
was broken by the friend, who said, “‘I will tell

_ you what I have been thinking of. I have been

thinking of a rule delivered by the Author of the
Christian religion, which, from its excellence, we
call the Golden Rule.’’

‘‘Stop,’’ said the Indian, ‘‘don’t praise it to me,
but rather tell me what it is, and let me think for
myself. I do not wish you to tell me of its excel-
lence; tell me what it is.”’

The friend said, ‘‘It is for one man to do to an-
other as he would have the other do to him.”

‘‘That’s impossible; it cannot be done,’’ the In-
dian immediately replied. Silence followed. The
Indian lighted his pipe and walked about the room.
In about a quarter of an hour he came to his friend
with a smiling face, and taking the pipe from his
mouth, said, ‘‘Brother, I have been thoughtful of
what you told me, If the Great Spirit that made
man would give him a new heart he could do as you
say, but not otherwise.’’ i

Thus the Indian saw the necessity of a new heart.

‘If any man be.in Christ, he is a new creature,”
2 Cor. 5, 17. :

Our Father Who Art in Heaven.

Dr. Martin Luther once said: ‘‘O that we could
but thoroughly understand the first words of the
Lord’s Prayer: ‘Our Father who art in heaven.’
For if I can understand and believe these few words,
that God, who created heaven and earth and all crea-
tures, and holds them in His hand, is my Father,

I can with all certainty conclude that I myself am ©

also a lord of heaven and earth. Again, that Christ
is my brother and all is mine, that Gabriel must be
my servant, and Raphael my coachman, and all the

‘angels my help in danger and need, as they are sent

to me by my heavenly Father, that they should
guide me on my way that I may not dash my foot
against a stone.” . 2

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The Christian’s Life.

“The Christian Jives not himself, but in Christ —

and in his fellow man,—in Christ by faith, in his
fellow man by love. By faith he rises above him-
self to God; from God he descends by love, still
always remaining in God and divine love. — Luther.