The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1915, Page 36

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36 The Lutheran Pioneer.

Poor, Though Surrounded by Riches.

A story is told of an old man and his daughter,

who lived in an ancient castle, so. reduced in cir-.

cumstances and so poor that they only managed
to live in the scantiest way, and yet, all the time,
unknown to them, they had in a secret drawer of

“a eupboard great masses of costly jewels put there

by an ancestor many years before. ‘Thus they were
poor, though plenty of riches were at hand. — So
God’s precious riches of forgiveness, life, and sal-
vation are at men’s hands, and yet many know and
helieve it not.

plenty, pining when they might be feasting. ‘The
Lord Jesus has come into the world and has con-
quered sin; and yet many are suffering sin to
tyrannize them. ‘The Lord Jesus has routed all
our enemies, and yet we are afraid of them. ‘The
Lord has revealed all this very plainly in His
Word, and it is proclaimed to men every day;
but through unbelief they are poor and despairing,
in bondage and woe. They will not believe, and
therefore they are poor, though boundless riches
are theirs. Iow sad is this unbelief, which renders
even truth untrue to us, and darkens our sun at
midday! Our unbelief is our worst enemy.

One of Our Colored Lutheran Congregations on Pentecost Sunday.

“By Their Fruits Ye Shall
Know Them.’’

A poor farmer owned a hard, rocky farm, from
which, at the expense of only the severest toil and
labor, he was able to support his.family. When
he died, he bequeathed the farm to his oldest son.
This son one day discovered traces of gold on the
land, and when the land was explored, it was found
that it contained mineral wealth of great value.
The father had had precisely the same property
which the son now possessed, but while the one
lived*and died in poverty, the other became rich.
— So it is with the riches of Christ. These riches
are at hand, prepared for all men, but most men
live and die without them; they are poor, spiritually
poor, though riches, unspeakably great riches, are

at hand, at hand for all.

yod’s grace has provided plenty for all men,
and yet most men are starving in the midst of

Several freethinkers to whom the cross of Christ
was foolishness once challenged a pastor to a pub-
lic debate. ‘The pastor suggested that, instead of
having a long debate, they prove the relative value
of Christianity and atheism in a more simple and
practical way: they should point out to him, or
name to him, a dozen men who had been cured
of their vices by the teachings of atheism, and
then he would point out an equal number of men
who had been converted from their evil ways by
the teachings of the Gospel. This suggestion of
the pastor was not accepted by his opponents, but
it was the means of causing them to ponder upon
the failure and powerlessness of atheism.