The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1920, Sheet 67

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNopIcAL CoNFERENCE oF Nort AMERICA.

REV. F. J. LANKENAU, EDITOR.

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. Louis, 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.

ST. LOUIS, MO., SEPTEMBER, 1920.

No. 9.

We Must Continue Our Labor.

We must continue our labor,
Still spreading the Gospel’s light,
Immortal souls we must rescue
That err in the shadows of night.

We must dispense to the famished
The bread and the water of life,

And give sweet rest to the weary

And peace in exchange for their strife.

We must enrich the needy

With gold from Ophir’s store;

Christ’s vineyard hath need to be tended
Till the sun will shine no more.

Bless Thou, dear Lord, our labors;

We call on Thy gracious name,

And know Thou wilt grant our petition,
For Thou art forever the same.

H. Osreritus.
oe — —-

Some Truths Concerning Faith and
Unbelief.

1 Jonn 5, 8S—10.

Jesus “came by water,” being baptized of John
in the wilderness, and in this way became manifest
as the Son of God and the Messiah of the world.
But He also “came by blood, that is, He suffered
and died on the cross for our sins. Thus He showed
His true character even more fully. The Father,
too, by various signs and miracles which accom-
panied the Savior’s appearance and work on earth,
bore witness to His only-begotten Son. The Spirit
likewise testifies concerning Him, vv. 6.7. Hence
John writes v.8: “For there are three who bear
wulness, the Spirit, and the walter, and the blood:
and the Three agree in one” (R.V.). The Holy

Ghost in the Word of the Gospel points to our
Savior’s coming with water and blood in the fulness
of time, and thus establishes the salutary fact that
Jesus is the divine Christ and man’s Savior. Thus
the Spirit, the water, and the blood agree in one,
which means that their several testimonies are
directed to and substantiate the same truth.

“Tf we receive the witness of men, the witness
of God is greater; for this is the witness of God
which He hath testified of His Son,” vy. 9. God,
as we learned from the foregoing verses, testified
concerning His Son by signs and wonders and still
testifies by His Spirit who speaks to us in the
Gospel. — We receive the testimony of our fellow-
men, acknowledging ‘it as true. This we do in
every-day life, in court, and also in Christ’s Chureh.
“Tn the mouth of two or three witnesses every word
may be established.” Should we, then, not accept
God’s witness, which is infinitely greater, much
more trustworthy and certain than that of men can
be, He being omniscient and also immutably and
entirely truthful? The judgment of the best of
men is often warped through secret, unconscious
dishonesty. Even the well-meaning and conscien-
tious will misrepresent things, making them appear
more in their favor than is in keeping with truth.
This happens fo them despite their good intentions.
All men are liars, although Christians never lie on
purpose. God, however, is always perfectly im-
partial and absolutely truthful.

“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the
witness in himself,’ v. 10a. Faith is certainly
wrought by the divine Spirit, with whom all Chris-
tian hearts are sealed. They have the witness of
God in them. “Jor we have not received the spirit