The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1909, Page 51

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 51

instance, a child is in danger of dying unbaptized,
a Christian should not hesitate to baptize it; or if
a fellowman is in need of comfort or instruction,
or admonition, we should not neglect supplying his

need. Mey fe 1b,

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Thy Kingdom Come.

We pray, “Thy kingdom come” — to us and to
all men. But the prayer will be a hollow mockery
upon our lips if we do not labor and give that
mission work may be done, by which God’s king-
dom is brought to men. It will also be a mockery
if we permit those to whom the kingdom has
already come to lose it again because we, though
able to do so, refuse to lend a helping hand, that
missions already begun need not be discontinued.
We should give as we pray and sing, and not be
like Aunt Dinah. Aunt Dinah, you know, could
shout and sing withethe best of the church mem-
bers. It was common at the missionary meeting to
sing the hymn, “Fly abroad, thou mighty Gospel,”
while the collection was being taken, and Aunt
Dinah always threw her head: back, shut her eyes,
and sang away lustily till the basket had passed.
Old Deacon Moses, who took up the collection, ob-
served her habit, and one evening stopped when he
came to her, and said, “Look-a-hear, Aunt Dinah,
you needn’t be a-singing, ‘Fly abroad, thou mighty
Gospel!’ if you give nothing to make her fly.”

Old Deacon Moses was right. Dinah’s singing
was mere lip service, and mere lip service is not
pleasing to the Lord. There is truth in the rough
language of the converted cowboy, who, as we sce
from a clipping sent us by a reader of the ProneEr
out West, said: “Lots of folks think that serving
the Lord means merely shouting themselves hoarse.
They easily open their lips, but will not open their
pocketbooks, nor will they do anything for Christ
and His kingdom. Now, I’ll tell you how I look
at that. I’m working here for Jim. Now, if I’d
sit around the house here, telling what a good fel-
low Jim is, and not do anything for him, I’d be
doing just like some church people do; but I
wouldn’t suit Jim, and I’d get fired mighty quick.
But when I buckle on my straps and hustle among
the hills and see that Jim’s herd is all right and
not suffering for water and feed, or being off the
range and branded by cattle thieves, then I’m serv-
ing Jim, not only with my lips, but as he wants
to be served.”

If all would give as they pray, there would be

no empty mission treasury, and the church would
be well supplied with means for the extension of
Christ’s kingdom. That woman did well who re-
minded her husband to give as he prayed. She
had for some time heard him pray, “Thy kingdom
come,” but had seen no cash going in that direction,
whilst money was spent for useless things and
things of luxury. So she one day said to him,
“Now, dear John, I think it is about time to help
the kingdom of God to come by the giving of some
eash, and show that we mean what we say.”

! Ilow dare we pray

: cred words, when we care more
For things that perish in a day

Than souls for whom Christ anguish bore?

—————>---—____—__

The Joy of Saving Souls.

The heart of a physician must thrill with joy
when he realizes that by a surgical operation or a
wise administration of medicine at a critical mo-
ment he has been the means of saving life. Yet
this is nothing compared to the joy of saving souls.
Jesus delighted in His ministry to the sick, but
Ilis greatest joy was the joy of saving souls. For
this He “endured the cross, despising the shame.”
We may enter into the joy of saving souls by helping
in mission work, bringing to others the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus.

Se eee

\ False Gods.

You don’t have to go to heathen lands to-day
to find false gods. America is full of them. What-
ever you make most of is your god. Whatever you
love more than God is your idol. A man may make
a god of himself, of a child, of a mother, of some
precious gift that God has bestowed upon him. He
may forget the Giver, and let his heart go out in
adoration towards the gift. Many a man’s heart is
like some Kaffir’s hut, so full of idols that there is
hardly room to turn around. Rich and poor, learned
and unlearned, all classes of men and women are
guilty of this sin. —D. L. M.

Look Unto Christ.

. Out of Christ as the Way, there is nothing but
wandering; out of Christ as the Truth, nothing
but error; gut of Christ as the Life, nothing but
death. Look unto Him, and be saved. He Himself
says: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life 3; no
man cometh unto the Father but by me,” John 14; 6.