The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1904, Page 82

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82

time, but I thought the landlord had come to de-
mand money, and as IJ had none I left the door
locked.’’

That woman is a picture of a sinner who thinks
Jesus comes in the Gospel to demand something
of him, while in reality Jesus comes to give and to
bless. He comes to enter the hearts of sinners and
to rule there in mercy and in peace. Happy are
they who receive Him into their hearts as their
King and Saviour. They enjoy all His blessings.
He supplies every want of their souls and leads
them to the beautiful mansions in His Father’s
house. He will come again to take them home.

The Advent season tells us that Christ will
come. He will come at the end of the world.
“They shall see. the Son of man coming in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory.’’ Not
in weakness will He come, as at His first coming,
but ‘‘with power.’? Not in humiliation, but with
“great glory.’’? Not alone, but attended by ‘‘all
His holy angels.’’ Not to be judged, but ‘“‘to judge
the quick and the dead.”? Not when everybody is
expecting Him, but ‘‘suddenly,”’ ‘‘as a thief in the
night’’ will He come to a careless world.

That coming of Christ will bring terror to all
unbelievers. They will be cast into everlasting woe.
But it will bring joy to all the children of God.
They have waited for the fulfillment of their Say-
iour’s promise: ‘‘Surely, I come quickly;” and
during their weary pilgrimage their hearts have
often longingly cried out: ‘‘Even so; come, Lord
Jesus!’? And now their waiting is ended, the
promise is fulfilled, their longing is satisfied. They
see Him whom their souls loved, and enter with
Him the blissful home of everlasting joy. ‘‘And
now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He
shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be
ashamed before Him at His coming,” 1 John 2, 28.

“Jesus is coming; for that joyful day

In ‘patient hope I watch, and wait, and pray;

The day draws nigh, the midnight shadows flee—
Oh, what a sunrise will that advent be!’’

—--—-——_-0-e

Look Unto Jesus.

We shall never find happiness by looking at our
prayers, our doings, our feelings, or anything that
we find in our own sinful selyes. It is what Jesus
is, not what we are; it is what Jesus did, not what
we do, that gives rest to the soul. If we would have
peace with God, it must be by looking unto Jesus.
_ Let His life, His sufferings, His death, His merits,

His ziznveouan oss be fresh upon your Eid Let

The Lutheran Pioneer.

nothing come between you and Jesus. Look simply
to Him, He will never fail you. In Jesus Christ you
will find peace, and happiness, and salvation.

“‘Look to Jesus,’’ Luther wrote to a troubled
friend. ‘‘Wearied at length with your own right-
eousness, rejoice and confide in the righteousness
of Christ. Learn, my dear brother, to know Christ,
and Christ crucified ; and learn to despair of thyself,
and sing to the Lord this song, ‘Lord Jesus, Thou
art my righteousness, but lam Thy sin. Thou hast
taken what belonged to me; Thou hast given me
what was Thine. Thou becamest what Thou wast
not, in order that I might become what I was not
myself.’’

And when Luther one day saw a man very much
depressed on account of his sins, he said to him:
‘“Man, what are you doing? Can you think of
nothing else but your sins, and dying, and dam-
nation? Turn your eye away, and direct it to Him
who is called Christ. Cease to fear and lament.
You really have no reason forit. If Christ were not
here, and had not done all for you, you then would
have reason to fear. But He is here, has suffered
death for you, and has secured comfort and salva-
tion for you, and now sits at the right hand of His
heavenly. Father to intercede for you.’’

The Love of Jesus.

As the church year comes to an end and you
enter another year of grace, think of the love of
Jesus, who comes to you in the Gospel message as
your Saviour and your Friend. There are those
who stand very near to you, and who love you
more than words can tell. But Jesus is the One
who loves you more, infinitely more; the One who
loves you with an everlasting love; the One who
has loved you from the beginning and marked you.
as His own-at your baptism; the One who has been
pleading with you all your lifetime: even that
“Good Shepherd who goeth into the mountains”’
to seek the one sheep that has gone astray.

“© the height of Jesus’ love!
Higher than the heavens above,
Deeper than the depths’of sea,
Lasting as eternity.’’

o>

A Good Reply.

A young lady who had renounced Romanism
was told that as she was born in the Catholic church,
she ought to die in it. She promptly replied, ‘‘I
was born in sin, but I Dave made up my mind not
to die in it.”’