The Lutheran Pioneer 1889

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MISSIONARY MONTH LY. ~ - -- --..=:==>----c>o¢---<===---- - - -

P rrnLIS II ED

BY TilE

EvANGELICAL

L UTHERAN SYNODICAL CONFERENCE OF NORTH A~IERTC.A. R • .\, BISCHOFF, Etlitor.

Entered at the Poat Omcc nt SI. Louis, Mo . , a.a &econd-c:lnaa ma tter.

Vol. XI.

St. Louis, Mo., Ja11.uary, 1889. The New Vear.

JESUS i slinll our watchword be As the New Year's dawn spreads o'er us; Je!'us' Name nlonc wlll we .As our ~tanclarcl bear before us ; In Ills CO\·en:mt we stand Journcyin~ to the promised land. JESUS' Name and J esus' Word Shall re ·ound in full est measure In our churches and be heard. May we trenct"Hi':I cou rts with plensnre, That our hearts through grace anew Pro\'e a holy temple too. JESUS' Name ~hall lighten pain, And In nil our ills rellc\'c us ; Losses thus shall turn to gain. And to blcs~lngs what seemed grievous. Jesus' Name is Sun and Shield, Here must .nil our sorrows yield. D. Schmolkt.

A Happy New Vear! We ,vish you n happy new year, dear render. But do you know that Jesus ,only can render the new year happy? As long ns we travel through this world without this Saviour, we are on the road to elernnl damnation, yen, we nre condemned already; for it is plainly written, "I-Ie that believeth not the Sun is condemned already" (John 3, l 8) ; "He that believe th not shall not see life; but the wrath of God nbideth on him" (John 3, 36). How can there be any happiness as long ns we are under the wrath nnd curse of God? Perhaps you expect to be made hnppy in the new yenr by the wealth and joys and pleasures of this world. But these things cannot give you any true happiness; they cannot take awny ycur sins; they cnnuot take o.wny the wi-nth of God; they cannot save you from hell; they cannot give you the sure hope of everlasting li(e in the hour of death. True happiness and salvation can be found in Jesus only. His name was called Jesus because He eaves His people from their sins. He came into this world the Saviour of all sinners. The poor Jewish shepherds from the fields of

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Bethlehem, and the rich wise men from the Redeemed. distant heathen lnnd found their happiness nud snlvntion in H im. And for ages kings and It is enid thnt just before the civil wnr in this beggars, wise men and unlearned men, fo und country a we;ilLhy gentleman, who was ,valking salvation in this Sa\'iour. He hns brought the streets ofa. eouthern cily, had his attention true hnppiuess in to the palace of the rich and called to n. group of negro sliwes about to be into the cabin of the poor. He comes to you sold. One of then: was weeping bitterly, and in the Gospel, and you find Him there by when be asked her why she was crying she· simply trusting in this Gospel. replied that she did not know what kind of a; Men often, in looking for salvation and ht1ppi- master was going to buy her, nor where she: ness, follow their own thoughts. They re~olve wns going. He said nothing more, but when to do better in the coming year by their own she was placed u p.>n the block for enle, he bid strength; they want to turn over a new leaf; a higher price for her thnn any one in the tl1ey trust in their own works, in their own crowd, and she was knocked down to him feelings, in their excitement at the revival his property. She was still weeping, .because bench. But they cannot find true happiness she did not kn~w him, nor where she was going, by thus following their own thoughts. When until he gently en.id, "I ha.ve not bought. you. the wise men from the East followed their own to make a slave of you; I have bought. you to thoughts, they went to Jerusalem to 6ncl the set you free; go where you please." She in., Saviour. They did not fincl Him. But when stantly turned to him with the glad cry, "Let they trusted the word of God which directed me go with you, I will serve you all my life." them to 'Bethlehem, they found Jesus. So we Christ bas redeemed us with Bis precious blood: · must simply trust in God's word. We must Let us gladly serve Him ,vith all our powers. not think: \Veil, there can be nothing in that Gospel; it is n mere empty sound of words. Nol We must simply put our trust in the word Empty Religion. of God which tells us that Jesus came into the world to eave us from nil our sins, nnd that "he that believeth BATB everlasting life'' (John Ah, • how many there nre with a good name, 6, 4G). \Ve must not think: Well, there can a respectable character, envied by others, and be nothing in Baptism; a little wnte.r can bring yet they have.a secret lurking in their breasts mo no blessing. We must simply trust the that, in spite of all their fair show in the flesh~ word of God ,vhich tells us, "He tha.t believeth something else is needed ,rhich they have not and is baptized SBA.LL BE SAVED" (Mark 16, 16). got. The thought of dying and meeting God \Ve must not think: \Vell, the bread nnd ,vine rnakes them tremble. They hear of others in the Lord's Supper can be of no blessing to being converted, and laugh or wonder at it., yet me. We must simply trust the ,vord of God feel uneasy ns to their own standing before which tells us that with the bread Christ give God. Their foundations shake, and .so they us His Body which was GIVEN FOR us, and with may-they nre only sand. They feel there ia the wine His blood which ,vns SBED FOR us, FOR something more needed than a mere empty· TBE REMISSION OF OUR SINS (l\fatt. 26, 26-28). profeESion - a Christleaa religion, yet they do By thus simply trusting in God's word we find not like to admit. that they have been wrong the Saviour, and in Him we have true happi- all their lives: it humbles them too much.. ness and eternnl salvation. \Ve mny then joy- And thus they go, hoping for the beat, till they fully enter the new year. \Ve know that we are shipwrecked forevet,.-tbeir hopes bluted are God's childreA by faith in Jesm, and tbnt forever, and themselves lost forever. our Father will take care of us, nnd that all things that will happen to us in the coming M<>ff men will strive much harder for an year will be for our own good. To all our estate here than they do for heaven. readers we wish such a happy new year I

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