The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1915, Page 49

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Che Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

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PuBLisueED BY THE EvANGELIcAL Lutueran SynopicaL ConFERENCE oF Nortu AMERICA.

REV. F. J. LANKENAU, EDITOR.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. XXXVII.

ST. LOUIS, MO., JULY, 1915.

No. 7.

The Second Adam.

Rom. 5, 15. 18. 19.

We were reduced by Adam's fall

To sin and death and Satan's thrall,

Until the second Adam came,

Who freed the world from guilt’ and
shame.

For as by one all were enslaved,

So by One also all were saved;

As sin by one man did abound,

So grace and truth in One are found.

As condemnation came by one,

So One forgiveness for us won;

As one caused death with all its woes,
So One elernal life bestows.

For what was lost by Adam's fall
Our Savior did regain for all
When He for all on Calvary .
Atonement made so graciously.
L, OsTeruus.

A Word to Christian Stewards.

Why is it that the money question with regard
to missions, which ought to be the easiest to solve,
is the most difficult one to handle? Is it because
of our selfishness? Is it because we are quite willing
to entrust our soul’s cternal salvation to God,
while we are not ‘willing to trust Him with our
purses? -Is it because we wish to consecrate our
souls and hearts to God, but do not wish to do the
same with: our pocketbooks? I am afraid that here
is the true cause of all the trouble. Our lives, our
hearts, our souls, we are ready to devote to God’s
kingdom and service, but not our bank books.

There can be no doubt, a thorough reform is

needed in the matter of motive and in the proportion
of our giving. We only too often give as though it
were a matter of charity and not a matter of duty;
and then again we many a time give unthought-
fully and grudgingly. We forget that it is our
reasonable service to the Lord that we offer and
present to Him our souls and bodies as a living
and holy sacrifice. We are heirs of God, joint heirs
with Christ, and all things are ours; but it is also
true that all ours should be God’s. We should give
Christ all we are and all we have.

We claim to be far superior to the Old ‘Testament
Jew, to have far greater privileges and blessings.
Now look at the old Jew and the giving he did.
Ife lived in a land that belonged to God, and he
was God’s tenant. His rent to God for the use of
the land was one-tenth of his income from the land.
Now, isn’t it-a perfectly fair argument to say that
since the Jew gave one-tenth, we Christians should
surely not give less? The Jew was under the Law,
and paid what he had to pay to the Lord. We Chris-
tians are under grace; should not the mercies of
God impel us to do a great deal more than the Jew?

God, indeed, wants us to provide ourselves and
our families with daily bread out of the money

which He gives us, but Scripture is very plain in ~

telling us that the balance is subject to a sight
draft from God at any time: The purses we have
are not ours to do with as we please. In fact, there
is nothing in our possession concerning which we
can say, “This is mine, mine to’do with as I like.”
And as long as we do not realize this fully, so long
we shall not be doing our whole duty, and just so
long our mission boards, and, for that matter, all
our church boards, will be hampered in their work
and prevented from doing what ought to be done.
Again and again it has happened in the past