The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1920, Page 42

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42 | The Lutheran Pioneer.

Reader, are you one of these unfeeling and un-
heeding persons that take no interest in the eternal
welfare of their fellow-men? On the Day of Judg-
ment that drowned woman will raise the finger of
accusation against every man and boy that stood
idly by and let her drown. Have you ever thought
of the many “heathen that can in justice raise the
finger of accusation against those Christians that
neglected their missionary duties toward them?
From all over the world they call us to deliver them
from sin, death, and the power of the devil, —do
we heed their ery? Oh, dear reader, you and
I know that there is only one means of saving sin-
ful man from perishing —faith in- Jesus Christ.
We know that he cannot save himself, do what he
will. We know that Christi alone is the Way, the
Truth, and the Life, and that no man can be saved
except by Him. Let us, then, cast aside all in-
difference and indolence and labor while we can
that the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ may be
brought unto the perishing sons and daughters of
men. Surely, we cannot rest while so many are
perishing in ignorance, superstition, and night; we
must bring those that sit in darkness the Light of
Life; we must throw out the Life-line to the
drowning and pull them onto the Rock of Salva-
tion! We cannot, we dare not go up to Judgment
till we have done the utmost to bring the Gospel
of Christ, the Word of Salvation, to the perishing
heathen. F..J. L.

*‘We Love.’’
1 Joun 4, 19—21.

O Thou that for-our sins didst take
AOnusean form, and humbly make

Thy home on earth; A

Thou that to Thy divinity

A human nature didst ally

By mortal birth,

+ And in that form didst suffer here
Torment and agony and fear,
So patiently ;
By Thy redeeming grace alone,
‘And not for merits of my own,
Oh, pardon me!

These stanzas, a warrior’s dying prayer, are
taken from a poem of the Spaniard Jorge Manrique
(who died in 1479, four years before Luther’s

birth), as translated by Longfellow. Is not their
- wording truly evangelical? “The poem is a great
_fayorite in Spain. No less than four poetic glosses,
"or running commentaries upon it have been ‘pub-

lished.” ‘Thus by God’s wise and merciful provi-
dence the sweet, Gospel of Christ’s grace is, in the
above stanzas, clearly voiced in the hearing of an
entire Roman Catholic nation and, besides, many
other people.

Christians are indeed saved by faith in Christ,
without the deeds of the Law. This faith, however,
produces rich fruit; it “worketh by love.” V.9:
We love (R. V.), because He (Jesus) first loved us.
— We believers love. We love. A statement which
means and implies a great deal! Can you assert
this with regard to yourself, dear reader? Do you
love? A person that does not, is not truly a be-
liever; for John here characterizes Christians as
people that love. Does this your love appear in an
active way? Does it become manifest in charitable
works? Can you truthfully say with John:
I love? All true Christians have experienced
Christ’s heartfelt love in their own lives and learn
of Him to be loving. Does your life bear out the
truth of this your statement? Have you learned
of Christ to be meck and lowly, kind and loving,
not only in outward conduct and words, but in
heart and also in deed? If we cast a look at
Christ’s life on earth, one feature stands out clearly
and boldly: His was a life of pure love. All His
acts say to us: The Son of Man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His
life a ransom for many. Believers say correspond-
ingly: He died for all, that they which live should
not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him
which died for them and rose again: Let us, then,
conscientiously try to answer such questions con-
cerning ourselves: Are our lives fruitful? Are
they useful? Are they led in vain? Do we utilize
our particular talent? Do we seck to gain others
therewith? ‘The Lord may appear at any time to
require an account from us. Tiven a faith which
removes mountains is nothing, is vain and void, if
it does not produce love. Has the sunshine of
Christ’s love made our hearts warm, glowing? ‘The
field of ‘our hearts and lives must bear fruit.

Verses 20 and 21: Jf a man say, I love God,
and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that
loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can
he love God whom he hath not seen? And this com-
mandment have we from Him, that he who loveth
God love his brother also. Jove to God and hatred
of the brother are irreconcilable contrasts. Indif-
ference toward the neighbor’s, the congregation’s,
the synod’s, weal and woe, however, let us bear this

in mind, is hatred of our brethren in God’s sight.

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