The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1921, Page 2

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

fo

2 ‘The Lutheran Pioneer.

—————————————— eee eee

Anointing teacheth us of all things and is truth.
God hath given us His Spirit. who beareth witness
in us. God's witness concerning His Son is greater
than that of men. He that believeth hath this wit-
ness in himself. ‘This is the victory that overcometh,
yea, that hath overcome. the world, even our faith.
By it we have true fellowship with Father and Son,
and with one another. By God’s Spirit we dwell in
the Father and the Son, and they in us. And these
things have been written unto us that our joy may
be full. If. Osrernus.
(To be continued.)

ee ---

The New Year and Our Missions. |

Another year has been added to the past. A new
year of grace has dawned upon us. May the Lord
bless us in our homes and labor, in our churches
and schools, and on our mission-fields !

As we look back upon the past year, we must
take up the language of David and say: “Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.”
His blessing has been new upon us every day of the
old year. He has provided us with the necessities
of life, has provided for us as a loving father pro-
vides for his children. He has given us health and
strength to labor and earn our bread in the sweat
of our brows. We have. lacked nothing. We have
had plenty and to spare.

We have had our afflictions and our sorrows.
Loved ones that gladdened our hearts with their
presence a year ago have gone to the rest that re-
mains for the people of God, towards which we also
are journeying. But even the afflictions and crosses
which the children of God are called on to bear are
blessings. They come from the loving hand of a
loving Father and must work for our good.

Spiritually, too, He has richly blessed us. ‘The
Gospel has had free course among us. ‘The Word
preached and taught has borne abundant fruit. ‘The
Lord has not left Himself without testimony
among us. Our churches and our schools at home
and on our mission-fields, despite hostile obstacles
from within and without, have numerically in-
creased, and we have by the gracious working of
the Holy Spirit advanced in the knowledge of His
saving Word, in faith, and in Christian virtues.
We have tasted of the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living. We have been permitted to sit
together with Christ in heavenly places feeding on
His bounties. Yor this we bless Him. For this

"we praise Him.

Can we forget these benefits? No, never! Out
of love and gratitude we will make them known.
We will tell of all His wondrous works to others.
We will sing of His mercies and make known His
faithfulness on our mission-fields. In loving-kind-
ness we will remember the millions of Negroes and
the thousands of Indians, all children of our soil.
all lying at our doors, sin-sick, wretched, sore. ‘The
Lord Jesus, who has redeemed them with His blood,
bids us go to them with the saving Gospel and work
together with Him for their conversion and salvation.
They are our nearest neighbors, all within our easy
reach. We can reach them in person, and we can
reach them with our missionaries; and we will and
must reach them while the time and opportunities
are ours.

We need more laborers, and we must educate
them; we need additional room for the housing of
our students at Greensboro, and we are called on
— O so often — to furnish it; we need chapels and
schoolhouses, and we must see that they are erected ;
we need more means, and, thank God, we have them.
We have only ‘to mention that (he Lord has need
of them, and they will be forthcoming. We will
begin the new year with the determination and the
prayer that the Lord may enable us to be more
active and zealous in the work of soul-saving. We
will make this new year of grace, as the Lord in-
tended it should ‘be, a busy missionary year at home
and on the field, making it an acceptable year unto
the Lord.

Our littleness of faith has so often been put to
shame by the goodness of God in the past year that
it is befitting that we should heartily repent of our
sins and praise Him for mercies received. In this
year, however, we will cling to Him and His never-
failing promises with renewed confidence, never
doubting that He who has commanded us to go to
our churchless and Christless fellow-men will also
furnish the means of support when we in obedience
to the call do go.

May He crown the year and our Jabors with
goodness, and guide us safely to the happy New
Year eternal in heaven! N. J. B.

Alabama Notes.

October 3, 1920, will long be remembered by the
missionaries and members here in Alabama. It was
a day of sadness, and at the same time a day of joy
and thanksgiving. Our hearts were made sad be-
cause on that day our venerable Superintendent,