The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1907, Page 65

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The Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNODICAL CONFERENCE OF NorTH AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XXIX.

’ Come, Labor On!

Come, labor on!
Who dares stand idle on the harvest plain
While all around him waves the golden grain,
And every servant hears the Master say,
“Go, work to-day”?
Come, labor .on!
Away with gloomy doubt and faithless fear!
No arm so weak but may do service here;
By feeblest agents can our God fulfill
His righteous will.

Come, labor on!
No time for rest, till glows the western sky,
And. the long shadows o’er our pathway lie,
While a glad sound comes with the setting sun,
“Servants, well done!”

Come, labor on!
The toil is pleasant, the reward is sure,
Blessed are they who to the end endure;
How full their joy! How deep their rest shall be,

O Lord, with Thee!
Sel.

_——_—_——_+-+—_____-

Harvest Lessons.

The harvest with which our land has again been
blessed teaches us the lesson of thankfulness, as it
calls upon us to give thanks unto God from whom
all blessings flow. We therefore celebrate our har-
vest-home festival with praise and thanksgiving,
knowing that it is God who blesses the farmer’s toil
and gives us the fruits’ of the field. It is He that
regulates the seasons and causes the harvests to
return in their time. We owe this, like all other
blessings, to His bountiful goodness, without any
merit on our part, as we confess in our Catechism:
“He daily provides me abundantly with all the

t. Louis, Mo., September, 1907.

necessaries of life, protects me from all danger, and
preserves me and guards me against all evil; all
which He does out of pure, paternal, and divine
goodness and merey, without any merit or worthi-
ness in me; for all which I am in duty bound to
thank, praise, serve, and obey Him.” We should
not forget this when we reap the blessings of the
harvest, but should give thanks to God, not only
in words, but also in deeds, helping those that are
in need, especially helping the Church in her work
of spreading Christ’s kingdom among men. Chris-
tians thank God “with hearts and hands and voices.”.
They are not among those who heed not the lesson
which the harvest teaches, and who refuse to give
thanks unto the Lord, ascribing the plenty which'
they enjoy to their own labor. God has indeed com-
manded the labor, but it is He that gives the in-

crease. 3
“We plough the fields and scatter
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God’s Almighty Hand;
He sends us snow in winter,
The warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine,
And soft, refreshing rain.
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord,
For all His loye.”

There is another lesson which the harvest teaches
us. It is a shadow of spiritual things and reminds’
us ofthe spiritual harvest, the harvest of souls.
Of this harvest the Savior says, “Lift up your eyes,
and look on the fields; for they are white already
to harvest,” John 4, 35. And again He’says, “The
harvest. truly is great, but the laborers are few.