The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1904, Page 81

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A

MISSIONARY

MONTHLY.

PuBLisnED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuriEeraN SynopicaL CONFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XXVI.

St. Toki! 2 Mo. November, 1904.

No. ll.

A Little While.

“Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will
not tarry.” Hebr. 10, 37.

**6A little while’— He'll come again!
Let us the precious hours redeem;
Our greatest grief to give Him pain,
Our joy to serve and follow Him.
Watching and ready may we be,
As those who long their Lord to see.

«664A little while’ —’twill soon be past!
Why should we shun the shame and cross?
Oh! let us in His footprints haste,
Counting for Him all else but loss.
Oh! how will recompense His smile
The sufferings of this ‘little while.’”

- ——~» 0

Advent.

Advent means coming. The Advent season of
the church year, which begins at the end of this
month, reminds us of the coming of Christ, and is

‘therefore a joyful season. It tells us that Christ
has come, that Christ still comes, and that Christ
will come.

Christ has come in the flesh for our redemption.
As soon as sin came into the world, He was prom-
ised as the Saviour from sin. The saints of the
Old Testament longingly looked forward to His
coming. And He has come.
of the time was come, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the Law, that we
might receive the adoption of sons.”” The Advent
season, pointing us to the happy Christmas time,
reminds us of the joyous fact that the Saviour has
come. The Son of God became man and took the

sinners’ place, and by His innocent life, bitter suf-
ferings, and death procured redemption for all.

**When the fullness -

But this redemption must be brought to us, and
Christ with all His blessings must become our own.
Therefore He comes to us in the means of grace.

The Advent season tells us that Christ still
comes. He comes in the Gospel and in the Sac-
raments. The Gospel is not a mere sound of words.
It is, as St. Paul says, ‘‘a power of God unto salya-
tion to every one that believeth.?? The Sacraments
are not mere signs and empty ceremonies. The
apostle Peter says, ‘‘Be baptized’ every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins’?
(Acts. 2, 38); and Christ, when instituting the Holy
Supper, said, “‘For the remission of sins.’? The
Gospel promise is connected with them, and there-
fore they are means of grace in which ‘Christ and
all His blessings are brought to us.
means of grace Christ Himself comes to the hearts
of sinners and says, ‘‘Behold, I stand at the door
and knock; if any man hear my voice and open
the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with
him, and he with me.” He comes, not in wrath,
but in mercy ; not to condemn, but to bless; not as
the Judge, but as the Saviour of sinners.

A pastor once went to see a woman in his con-
gregation of whom he had heard that she was in
great distress because she:could not pay her rent.
He went to help her. He rapped at the door, lis-
tened, and thought he heard some one in the house.
He rapped again, but the door was not opened.
The third time he rapped very hard, listened, but
the door remained: closed, and. he finally went
away. The next day he met-the woman on the
street and said, ‘“‘I was at your house yesterday;
I had heard that you could not pay your rent, and
I came to help you.’”’? ‘Oh, was that you?’ the
woman replied. ‘‘I was in the house the whole

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