The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1905, Page 86

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86

The Lutheran Pioneer.

The Mercies of God.

The mercies of God

Are the theme of my song;
Like beneficent rivers

Life’s pathways among,
They flow full of blessing

Through valley and plain,
As free as the sunshine,

As rich as the rain.

The mercies of God
Are as sure as the light;
They wait for our waking,
They guard us at night;
They fail us not ever,
But as day follows day
They come from our Father
To prosper our way.

Oh, mercies most wonderful!
Who can declare
God’s tender compassion
And infinite care?
His love forgets nothing;
He, Shepherd and Friend,
Is our joy through life’s living,
Our rest at its end.

Oh, corn that is golden,
Oh, forests of green,
Oh, seas of blue beauty
With white waves between,
You tell of His mercies,
But I shall proclaim
Through ages eternal
How great is His name.
Marianne Farningham.

Jesus Sinners Doth Receive.”

In the summer of 1869 a Jewish doctor at Kishi-
new, in Southern Russia, treated a poor Lutheran
widow, who was suffering from a painful disease.
The doctor admired the Christian patience and calm
submission with which she bore her sufferings.

As she grew weaker and weaker, she one day
asked the doctor, ‘‘How long will it be before the
end comes, doctor?”’

The doctor told her that she might have but a

few hours to live yet. Her face brightened, and she |

joyfully looked at him as if she were going to a
wedding.

The doctor was surprised, but the widow said to
him: ‘‘Doctor, you have been so kind to me, and
I should like to leave you a small token of my
thankfulness. You are a Jew, but you are alsoa
sinner. You cannot be saved without the Saviour

of sinners. O seek Him! Seek Him here in this
book!?? Saying this, she handed him her Bible.

To please the woman, the doctor accepted the book.
He took it along home, and laid it aside.

When the doctor, the next morning, made his
calls, he came also to the dwelling of the poor
widow. At the door he stood still and listened as
he heard some one singing. The adopted daughter
of the dying woman was singing the verse:

“J, a sinner, come to Thee,
And acknowlege my transgression;
Tender mercy show to me,
Grant me graciously remission;
Let these words my soul relieve:
‘Jesus sinners doth receive.’”’

The words of the singing child entered the heart
of the Jewish doctor; his eyes were opened; he
could not but confess to himself: ‘‘You, too, area
poor sinner; only the Saviour of sinners can save
your soul!”’

Two months later the old doctor also lay upon
his dying bed. At midnight he sent for the pastor
and wished to be baptized.

As the pastor was told all that had occurred dur-
ing. the last weeks, he was deeply moved and joy-
fully granted the doctor’s request, baptizing him in
the name of the Triune God.

The next day the old Jewish doctor fell asleep in
Jesus. His last words were:

“Jesus sinners doth receive!”
Me, too, hath received the Saviour,
Opening heaven, that I may live
With my Lord in bliss forever;
Gladly, then, this world I leave —
“Jesus sinners doth receive!”’

What a Song Did.

A Scottish youth learned with his mother to sing
the old Psalms that were then as household words.
When he had grown up, he wandered away from
his native country, was taken captive by the Turks,
and made a slave in one of the Barbary states. But
he never forgot the songs of Zion, although he sang
them in a strange land and to heathen ears.

One night he was solacing himself in this man-
ner when the attention of some sailors on board of
an English man-of-war was directed to the familiar
tune of ‘‘Old Hundred’? as it came floating over the
moonlit waves. At once they surmised the truth,
that one of their countrymen was languishing away
his life as a captive. Quickly arming themselves,
they manned a boat and lost no time in effecting
his release. After eighteen long years in slavery,
is it strange that he ever afterward cherished the
glorious tune of ‘‘Old Hundred’’?? —Bible Reader.