The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1906, Page 29

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

29

My Guide.

Jesus is my faithful Guide,

He is ever near my side.

*Tis He who leads me all the way —
Gently leads me lest I stray.

When my joys are turned to grief
He quickly comes to my relief.

He will all my sorrows share

If I go to Him in prayer.

When my earthly life is o’er

And I leave this earthly shore

May I hear the Savior say,

“TY will guide thee all the way,”

May my soul then take its flight
To that land where there’s no night.
To that endless land above

Where all is joy and God is love.

EstTuer PETerson.

A Sinner — But Not Damned.

Luther says: “Once upon a time the devil
came to me, and said, ‘Martin Luther, you are a
great sinner, and you will be damned.’ ‘Stop,
stop,’ said I, ‘one thing at a time. I am a great
sinner, it is true, though you have no right to tell
me of it. I confess it. What next? ‘Therefore
you will be damned.’ ‘That is not good reasoning.
It is true I am a great sinner, but it is written,
“Jesus Christ came to save sinners,” therefore I
shall be saved. Now go your way.’ So I cut the
devil off with his own sword, and he went away
mourning because he could not cast me down by
caHing me a sinner.” .

Christ was “delivered for our offenses, and
raised again for our justification.” In Him there
is salvation for all sinners. Those who reject
Christ. and His work do not get this salvation
offered to them in the Gospel, and therefore they
remain under the wrath of God and are damned;
for it is written, “He that believeth not shall be
damned.” But every sinner that trusts in Christ
and His finished work of redemption is free from
wrath and damnation. He has forgiveness. of sins
and eternal salvation. He is “justified from all
things,” Acts 13, 39. Being justified by God Him-
self, the believer can defy the devil and all the
powers of darkness; for it is written: “Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is
God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?
It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us,” Rom. 8, 33. 34.

And again it is written of believers: “There is
now no condemnation” —mark well!—“no con-
demnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,”
Rom. 8, 1.

“No condemnation!” precious word.

Consider it, my soul:

Thy sins were all on Jesus laid,

His stripes have made thee whole.

—_—>o>——______

Easter Joy at Last.

It was Easter morning, and the church bells
were welcoming the dawn of the joyous day in
Wernerville. he cold days of a long winter were
giving place to the mild, sunny days of spring,

There was an Easter service at the old Ridge
church, a mile out of town, and from near and far,
in vehicles and on foot, the people of that vicinity
were wending their way thither, greeting each other
as they met or passed on the way according to a
custom their parents had brought with them from
their fatherland, with the blessed truth, “The Lord
is risen.”

On that joyous morning, judging from the
beaming countenances and the cheerful grectings,
everybody had entered into the spirit of the day,
and was truly happy. Everybody, did we say?
No, there were two exceptions. Hiram Hazlett
and his wife Sarah were the exceptions. Easter
was a sad day at the Hazlett home. Years before,
death had entered their home upon that day, and
snatched away an only child. Their wounded
hearts had never healed. They had never applied
the soothing balm of the Gospel. They nursed
their troubles, and renewed their grief, and went
through life with their heads bowed in sorrow.
They harbored bitter thoughts, and were trying
to make themselves believe that the dear Father
in heaven had dealt harshly with them. Satan was
gradually getting the mastery over them. At first
they remained away from service on each succes-
sive Easter, but by and by found it an easy matter
to stay away from God’s house Sunday after Sunday.

On this particular Easter morning, however, to
the astonishment of all the neighbors, Hiram and
Sarah attended service. It came about in this way.
Their old neighbors, the Landorfs, who had moved
to a remote part of the country, had come to sptnd
Easter with their former neighbors, and had in-
sisted so strenuously on attending the Easter serv-
ice, that the host and hostess did not have the heart
to decline to accompany them.