The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1911, Page 58

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58

The Lutheran Pioneer.

This life is in His Son, and in Him only. “He that
hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life.” In Jesus, the unspeakable
gift of God, is included every other gift the soul
needs for this world and for eternity.

It is a gift. Mark well, a gift. You cannot buy
it, you cannot earn it. It is a free gift, offered to
you in the Gospel without money and without price.
He that knows all that ever you did, all that you
are, sets before you in the Gospel Jesus, the cruci-
fied and-risen. Savior, as your Redeemer. Do you
know Him, the Gift of all gifts?

Do you say, “But my sins are heavy; they press
me down; what must I do?” Oh, if thou knewest
the gift of God! Yes, even though you have com-
mitted every sin that has been done in this sin-
cursed world, yet the gift of God’s grace in Christ
Jesus abounds above it all. In Jesus “we have re-
demption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins.” Of all sins. . For it is written: “The blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all
sins.” He who so gently dealt with the sinful
woman at Jacob’s well, and so tenderly led her to
the waters of salvation, still comes to sinners in
the Gospel, bringing them the living water of ever-
lasting life. To save sinners is His very business.
To save sinners is His joy. To the disciples that
brought Him food to eat at Jacob’s well He said,
“T have meat to eat that ye know not of.” “My
meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to
finish His work.” He was sent into the world for
the salvation of sinners, and the faith of the Sa-
maritan woman refreshed His thirsty spirit, and
strengthened His weary body, with food of which
His disciples knew nothing. His soul rejoiced over
the salvation of the sinful woman, and His eye

followed the saved sinner with joy born of loving
mercy into the harvest-field, gs she began at once
to gather the sheaves.

' He is the same Jesus to-day, rejoicing over
every sinner that comes to Him for salvation. Oh,
that thou knewest the gift of God! Cling with a
trusting faith to Jesus, and God’s gift of salvation
is yours. You will then, in joyful gratitude, be a
helper in the many mission-fields, white to harvest.
You will bring others to a saving knowledge of the
gift of God by leading them to Christ, the Savior
of the world.

Jesus, be ever with me in the way, as my good
guard at all times’and in every place, lest, haply,
I wander in by-paths, — Thomas a Kempis. -

The Power of God’s Word.

A missionary, who spent years among the na-
tives of one of the South Sea Islands, says that when
the missionaries first went among them, they found
that these barbarous people killed their old men and
women as soon as they lost their strength to do
hard work. He then describes a scene which he
afterward saw at one of his meetings. ‘Two of the
men who had been converted were seen gently carry-
ing into the church-service their old and feeble
mother. Once they would have killed her when
she became helpless. Now, because of her helpless-
ness, they treated her with the greatest kindness.
The Gospel had changed the cruel characters of
these ignorant heathen men into that of dutiful and
loving Christian sons.

Darwin, the British scientist, made similar state-
ments regarding the South Sea Islanders. He said
that when he visited those islands the first time,
he found the natives killing their old women. He
asked one of them why they killed their mothers
and spared their dogs. The reply was, “Doggie
catchie seal; old woman no catchie seal.’ When
Darwin returned, some years later, he found that
this horrid practice had died out, that by the work
of the missionaries the character and the lives of
these people had been transformed. He confessed
that the wonderful change revealed a power that
he could not account for by science. Of course not.
It was the power of God’s Word, of which the infidel
scientist knew nothing. It was the power with
which the apostles went through the heathen world,
turning men from idolatry and heathen practices
to the worship and service of the only true and liv-
ing God. It was the power of which St. Paul, tlhe
great missionary apostle, said: “I am not ashamed
of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God
unto salvation to every one that believeth,’ Rom.
1,16. That is the power with which God’s servants
still to-day win the souls of men for Christ and His
kingdom.

The Universalist.

The Universalists, in opposition to the plain
Word of God, deny the eternal punishment of the
unbeliever. It is often useless to reason with such
and other rejecters of the truth. ‘They may count
our arguments weak, and flatter themselves that
they have gained an advantage. over us. But the
Word of God is powerful; it goes directly to the