The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1920, Sheet 43

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The Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLisHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SyNopIcAL CoNFERENCE OF NorTH AMERICA.

REv. F. J. LANKENAU, EDITOR.

on

Published monthly by Concordia Publishing House, St. Louls, Mo. Subscription price, 25 cts. per annum, payable strictly In advance.
Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at St. Louls, Mo., under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 5, 1918.

* Vol. XLII.

No. 6.

ST. LOUIS, MO., JUNE, 1920.

God Is Not a Senseless Power.

God is not a senseless power,
An inexorable fate,

But He helps us every hour,
And Ilis love is truly great.

Our condition was distressing,

But He sent His only Son

That we might receive His blessing,
And our hearts for heav’n be won.

He accepted Christ’s great off’ring,
And raised up our Priest and King;
By the Gospel He is proff’ring

To us all the needful thing.

True and faithful He abideth, —
He is not a cruel Fate, —
Carefully His own He guideth
To that bright and pearly gate.

Let us, then, bear fruitage daily,
Giving thanks for all this love,
Serving God, and walking gaily
In the path that leads above.
H. OSTERUUS.

Rescue the Perishing!

A Chicago paper brought the following news
item: “A terrible illustration of the spirit which
is beginning to take possession of the hearts of
some was. manifested ‘when recently a woman in
Chicago fell into the lake and two hundred men
and boys stood idly by and watched her as she

struggled and uttered screams for help.

“One of them rushed up and seized her purse

“which lay at the spotyfrom where she had fallen.
Before the life-saving men could come, she had
gone down for the last time.

“The captain of the life-saving crew said:
“Those men acted like a pack of dogs; any one
of them could have stepped down and pulled her
out by hand without any peril to himself.’ ”

Who among our-readers does not find it difficult
to command words strong enough to express his
indignation at such a manifestation of heartlessness
as that described in this item. It seems almost
incredible that people could be so calloused in soul,
as to stand by unmoved while a fellow-creature is
drowning. And think of it! Any one there could
have saved the drowning woman without imperil-
ing his life. All that was demanded was a little
physical exertion and a life would have been saved.

But when I read this item the thought came to
me, How many are guilty of even greater heart-
lessness toward their fellow-men! How great is the
number of Christians that hear the cry of their
brethren and sisters drowning in their sins,- but
refuse to lift a hand to rescue the perishing! They
hear the ery, “Come over and help us,” but, unlike
Paul, ‘they heed it not. They could without great
sacrifice set their perishing brethren on the solid
Rock of safety, but they do it not. They know that «
eternal death stares all those in the face that die
in their sins, but they do nothing to bring them to
the Savior. They know the only means of saving
the dying souls around them, and they have the
means of bringing them life, but they are utterly ”
indifferent to their condition and fate. ‘They are
so utterly governed by selfishness that the lot of
others seems not to touch them. Though they see
thousands perishing at their side, they idly look-on
and go the even tenor of their way, never once
reaching out a helping hand.