The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1904, Page 68

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68 The Lutheran Pioneer.

Lutheranism.

Lutheranism teaches that God hates no man,
that He loves all men, and wills that all men be
sayed. It teaches, further, that the Son of God has
propitiated God for all men, and redeemed them;
and He has blotted out the sins of all men, and
purchased for all the forgiveness of their sins and
a perfect righteousness. It teaches that God passes
over no one, but earnestly urges everyone to receive
His grace. It teaches that the Gospel is a great
universal absolution, which God has already pro-
claimed to all men, which everyone can take to him-
self, and everyone—even the greatest sinner—can
depend upon as certainly as God is true. It teaches
that even those who have fallen often can return
and again find grace. It teaches that the decisive
question is not whether man feel grace and peace
with God, and the forgiveness of sins, but whether
he believe the promise of grace and forgiveness: for
as man believes from the heart God to be, whether
angry or gracious, so is He.. It teaches that only
two classes of men will not be saved, viz., those who

want to help themselves out of their sins, and those ,

who want to remain in their sins.
Rev. Prof. C.F. W. Walther, D. D.

“This Means You.’’

It is said that a Western sheriff, in a town
where ‘‘roughs’’ and ‘‘toughs’’ and gamblers and
cutthroats had become altogether too plentiful, was
ordered by the Vigilance Committee to clear them
out. He accordingly provided himself with printed
notices ordering such objectionable characters to

make themselves scarce, and walking up to one of

them after another and tapping each on the shoulder
he would hand him a notice, saying, ‘‘This means
you.”

We are not informed as to the effectiveness of
this method of personal dealing, but we should say
it had the merit of directness and definiteness, and
might be fruitful in good results, and it would seem
that many of the preachers of the day who are deal-

ing in glittering generalities, and scattering soft.

words among hard sinners in an indefinite kind of
way might increase their effectiveness if they would
imitate the Western sheriff, and, teaching ‘‘publicly
from house to house,” would go to men individually
and say, ‘“‘This means you.”? This was Nathan’s
method, and his sermon to David had an application.
The application was very brief, it was, ‘‘Thou art the
man!”’ but the application produced conviction and
repentance, and the sermon was never forgotten.

Man of God, tell the truth! Tell it to the men
who need to hear it; and if any one does not
heed your general statements, lay your hand on his
shoulder and in all tenderness and faithfulness say,
“This means you!’’— The Christian.

>>

The Wrong Way of Giving.

A-colored man was telling of his way of giving
to the Lord. ‘‘Yes, sir,’’ said he, ‘‘I gibs de truck
off o’ one acre ebbery year to de Lawd.”’

‘*Which acre is it?’’ the friend asked.

“Well, dat is a different question. Truf is, de
acres change most ebbery season.’’

““How’s that?”’

‘“Why, in wet season I gibs de Lawd de low
land, and in dry season I gibs Him de top acre ob
de whole plantation.’’

‘In that case the Lord’s acre is the worst in the
whole farm, for in wet seasons it would be quite
flooded, and in dry times parched.”

‘Jes’ so. You don’t allow I’se goin’ to rob my
family ob de best acre I’se got, did ye?”’

Is not this too much the fashion of our offerings
to the Lord—shreds of time, bits of talent, dribblets
of money, fringes of things? It is not our poorest,

but our best, that we should give to the Lord.
Selected.

—————+ e+ — —-

Before the Setting of the Sun.

Between John, the renowned Bishop of Con-
stantinople, called the Almoner, and Nicetas, a
nobleman, some bitter words had passed one day,
and they had parted in anger. John had been
wronged. Still, as the day was drawing to its close,
he remembered the words of.the apostle: ‘‘Be ye
angry and sin not; let not the sun go down upon
your wrath,’’ Eph. 4, 26. He sent a friend to Ni-
cetas with the message, ‘‘My lord, the sun is going
down.’’ Nicetas understood, hastened to him, and
they reconciled themselves, cheerfully, before the
sun set.

How many there are by whom the sun’s daily
warning is unheeded!

Whosoever.

Baxter used to say that if the Bible said, ‘Richard

Baxter might take the water of life freely, it would ©

not be such good news as when it says, ‘‘ Whosoever
will,’’ because there might be some other Richard
Baxter who was meant.