The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1913, Page 42

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

42 The Lutheran Pioneer.

deadly power of this tyrannic despotism shall be
broken. ‘The captives shall know and enjoy the
glorious liberty of the children of God.

The Lord has gathered an army recruited from
the very ranks of those whom Satan held in bondage.
This army is the Christian Church. Its marching
order is brief and comprehensive: “Go ye into all
the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.”
Its task is to attack the fortress of the Kingdom
of Darkness, to level the walls of superstition and
ignorance, to teach men the knowledge of their
desperate condition, and to lead them forth into
the marvelous light that issues from the cross
of Christ.

You who read this, if you have found the Say-
ior, and I and thousands of others, the work is
ours to do.

We have the artillery, the churches and congre-
zations in Christianity; we have the projectiles,
the men who should be sent against the walls of
that hostile fortress; we have the ammunition, the
gold and silver with which the Lord has filled our
purses.

“But the whole great instrument of the mission-
ary machinery of Christianity will remain idle, cold,
and useless if the sacred spark of the Spirit of God
does not vitalize it and start it into action.

If the work that is already in progress should
continue; if fresh forces are to be brought to the
firing line; if new territory is to be invaded; if
the strings of our purses are to be loosed; if the
battlements of heathenism and unbelief are to fall;
if victory is to crown the efforts of the attacking
host, —the divine spark of the Holy Spirit must
supply the life, the energy, the sustaining strength,
the willingness to bring sacrifices, and the undaunted
determination to succeed.

The Lord will send that Sacred Spark if we
carnestly ask Him. We give good gifts to our
children when they ask us; “how much more shall

your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them’

that ask Him!”

Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all Thy quickening powers;
Kindle a flame of sacred love

In these cold hearts of ours.

Give tongues of fire and hearts of love
To preach the reconciling Word;

Give power and unction from above,
Where’er the joyful sound is heard.

Mighty Spirit of reliance,
Sure se in all our need,
When the Foe bids us defiance,
Bid Thy work in us‘ Godspeed;

And with vi K. K.

‘crown our life.

The Greatest Folly.

Man is a proud creature, and wishes to establish
his own righteousness, so that he may have some-
thing to glory in himself. Man prefers his own rags
to Christ’s fine linen. He thinks that a poor coat
of his own is better than a silk dress that is bor-
rowed. He doesn’t like to wear borrowed things;
he doesn’t like to have it said that the clothes he
wears are not his own. But such pride is a most
expensive luxury when a man that indulges it, by
so doing, must give up all hope of heaven. And that
is actually the case. Christ has said it, and you
know that He cannot lie, that no man ean feast
with the King unless he puts off his own garment
and wears the wedding-garment which the King
supplies. Our own garments will not suit God’s
courts, even though they were of silk and satin.
We must accept the righteousness of Christ, or be
unrighteous forever. Is it not, then, the height of
folly to reject the royal apparel of free grace? Will
you insist upon going naked when God offers to
clothe you? O friend, can’t you see that your own
righteousnesses are filthy rags, and that you should
be heartily glad to get rid of them? Oh, do let
Jesus’ blood and righteousness your beauty be and
glorious dress, for arrayed in these you will be able
joyfully to lift up your head when called before
the King. 2

The Gospel is a Leaven.

William Duncan, all alone, went out to bring
the Gospel to the Metlakahtlans, a most ferocious
and murderous tribe on the North Pacific Coast.
When he first expressed his desire to teach Chris-
tianity to this barbarous people, he was laughed at
and scorned. But he went, never heeding the de-
rision of his friends. There being no written lan-
guage of Metlakahtla, he had a person to teach him
the spoken language. When able to speak the lan-
guage with some degree of proficiency, he told the
people that he would tell them about the white man’s
God if they would permit him. He preached to
them Jesus, and the end was a garden of the Lord,
every man a Christian. Within thirty years the
whole place was transfigured, transformed; civili-
zation, education, and an interest in spiritual things
showed itself everywhere; the knee of every former
heathen was bent before the cross of Christ as the
God and King and Savior of men! ‘The Gospel is
indeed the power of God.