The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1906, Page 49

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The Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

————

Punuisuep By THe EVANGELICAL LuTueran SYNODICAL CONFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XXVIII.

St. Louis, Mo.,

sO, No. 7.

u

Assurance of Faith.

Here I can firmly rest;

I dare to boast of this,

That God, the highest and the best,
My God and Father is.

Naught have I of my own,
Naught in the life I lead;

What Christ hath given, that alone
I dare in faith to plead.

I rest, upon the ground

Of Jesus and His blood,

It is through Him that I have found
My soul’s eternal good. ;

His Spirit in me dwells,
O’er all my mind He reigns,
My care and sadness He dispels,
And soothes away my pains.
From the German by C. Winkworth.

> -—_—_

A Well-Spent Life.

We recently overheard the following conversa-
tion between two young women, who sat not far
from us in a train.

“T heard, Mary, that your aunt Lena died after
a short illness.”

“Yes, she wasn’t sick long, and we were all
glad that she didn’t have to suffer much.”

“T was also glad to hear it. The poor woman
had trouble enough in her lifetime. She was always
a hard-working woman.”

“And always working for other people, too.”

“Yes, I reckon it must have been a great com-
fort to dear Lena to think of all the good she’s
done.”

“She certainly found great comfort in looking
back on her well-spent life.”

Here an elderly gentleman, who sat opposite the
women. and who evidently was an acquaintance
of theirs, interrupted them saying, “Well, Mary,
I knew your aunt Lena, the dear old soul. We all
loved her for her pious and charitable life. But
she surely did not seek comfort in her last sickness
by looking back on her well-spent life. She knew
her Bible better than that.”

And then the old gentleman made plain the way
of salvation as revealed in the Gospel. He quoted
many Scripture passages showing that we are saved,
not by our works, but by grace through faith in
Jesus, the sinner’s Savior and only comfort in life

i and death.

As they reached their home at one of the next
stations, the two women left the train, the old
gentleman helping them with their bandboxes and
satchels. We hope they profited by what their
friend told them about the way of salvation. —

It is pitiful to hear people speaking of a dead
person as having found comfort in looking back
upon his well-spent life. No matter who the person
was, according to the Bible all his “righteousnesses
are as filthy rags,” and there is surely no comfort
for the soul to be found in a pile of dirty rags.
‘here has never been but one perfectly well-spent
life on earth. It is the life of Jesus, who was with-
out sin, and who in our stead rendered a perfect
obslience to all the demands of God’s Law. Luther
therefore says: “There is no one found on earth
who did not sin, here and there, in words and deeds.
For ‘if any stumbleth not in word, the same is a
perfect man,’ James 3, 2. But where is he? and
what is his name? ‘There is none except Christ
alone. He suffered as the Righteous for the un-
righteous. He alone was innocent and without sin,