The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1912, Page 9

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBuisHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNopIcAL CoNFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFYF, Eprror.

Entered at the Post Ofice at St.

Vol. XXXIV.

ST. LOUIS, MO.,

Perfect Peace.

A mind at perfect peace with God —
O, what a word is this!

A sinner reconciled through blood —
This, this indeed is peace!

By nature and by practice far,

How very far, from God!

Yet now by grace brought nigh to Him,
Through faith in Jesus’ blood.

So nigh, so very nigh, to God,
I cannot nearer be;
For in the person of His Son
[ am as near as He.

So dear, so very dear, to God,

More dear I cannot be;

The love wherewith He loves the Son:
Such is His love to me!

Why should I ever anxious be
Since such a God is mine?

He watches o’er me night and day,
And tells me, “Mine is thine.”

Selected.
Oe

Peace in Christ.

In a paper sent us by a friend, we read that a
_woman, much troubled in mind, came to a sectarian
preacher: with the question, “How can I get the
peace of God?” ‘The preacher did not point the
poor woman to Christ who made peace for us
through the blood of His cross, Col. 1, 20. Instead
of pointing her to the work of Christ, he pointed
her to her own works, telling her that the flower
mission, whose aim it is to take flowers to the sick
in the hospitals, needed help, and that she might
also find something to do if she applied to the
temperance rooms of the city. When the woman,
after some time, came back to. the. preacher and told

Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

FEBRUARY, 1912.

No. 2.

him all she had done, he asked her, “And what have
you found in all this?” She replied, “Christ and
peace.” Poor, deluded soul!

There are many such souls led astray by blind
leaders who themselves know not the way of peace.
“Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both
fall into the ditch?” Luke 6, 39.

There ‘is no salvation in the Law. No peace,
no rest. For it is written: “By the deeds of the
Law there shall no flesh be: justified in His sight;
for by the Law is the knowledge of sin,” Rom. 3, 20.
“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by
faith, without the deeds of the Law,” Rom. 3, 28.
Peace is found in Christ only. At His birth the
angels sang: “Peace on earth!” In Him the aged
Simeon found peace, so that he could joyfully say:
“Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in
peace.” He saw in Christ God’s salvation prepared
for sinners, and therefore he found peace in Him.
For there can be no true peace where there is no
salvation, no peace where sins are not forgiven. It
is Christ “in whom we have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” He “put
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,” reconciling
God with the sinful world. That work of Christ
is offered to sinners in the Gospel, in which Christ
Himself “preaches peace.” ‘The moment the sinner
by faith takes it as his own, and as long as he thus
takes it, he has peace, peace of conscience, peace of
soul, peace with God, everlasting peace—a peace
not resting on his own feelings or his own doings,
but on: that which Christ did for him when He
bore the punishment of our sins. “All that believe
are justified from all things,” Acts 13, 38. There-
fore they have peace, as St. Paul plainly says:
“Being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord. Jesus Christ,” Rom. 5, 1;