# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1879_S3 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) ‘The Lutheran Pioneer. 3 9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. And Matth. 22, 37—40. the Lord Jesus says, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and preat command- ment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”’ Dear reader, have you kept the holy law of God? Have you always and under all cireum- stances loved God above all things, and all your fellow-men as yourself? God knows that you have not, and you ought to know and feel it also. You are guilty before God as well as I and all men on earth. The Word of God plainly says, ‘There is no difference: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”’ Therefore, if you have any true knowl- edge of yourself, you must acknowledge and | confess, Iam a sinner. I have offended against my God and Father in heaven, who has never done any wrong unto me, who has bestowed upon me immeasurable love and goodness. By manifold sins I have served the greatest enemy of God and men, the devil himself. According to the Word of God I deserve nothing but the wrath and the displeasure of God, temporal death, and everlasting condemnation. The Lord says, ‘‘Cursed be he that confirmeth not | every word of this law to do them, and all the | people shall say, Amen.’’ Woe unto me, what| Oh, shall I do? what must I do to be saved? me. And He went a little further, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?’”’ ,,And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.’’— Judas, one of His disciples, betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver; the other disciples forsook Him and fled, Left alone in His anguish, He was taken by the multitude and dragged to the bar of the high- priest, where, after a hurried trial, He was condemned to death, and spit upon, and struck upon the face, and treated most shame- fully. The next morning, early, He was taken into the presence of Pilate, the Roman gov- ernor, who confirmed the sentence of death, the people crying aloud, ‘‘Crucify Him, crucify Him.’’ He was severely scourged by the cruel whips of the soldiers, a crown of thorns was placed upon His head, a cross was laid upon His shoulders, and He was led away to be cru- cified. Behold the Sinless One on His way to calvary! He walks with faint and weary step beneath His heavy burden, until unable to carry it longer. At length calvary is reached. He is nailed to the cross. There He hangs on that fatal wood between two thieves. He is mocked, He is scorned, He is laughed at. Vin- egar is given Him to quench His thirst. The dark cloud of God’s wrath is poured out over Him. In His loneliness and deep agony that piercing cry breaks forth from His lips: —“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” my dear reader, is this your firm conviction?) And again He “cried with a loud voice, and Is this your sincere confession? Do you really ask with trembling, What must I do to be saved? Ifyou ask this question with a sincere heart, let me say unto you in the name of God: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.‘ (To be continued.) so oo The Suffering Saviour. “And He took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto Him, saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they shall mock Him, and shall scourge Him, and shall spit upon Him, and shall kill Him; and the third day He shall rise again.” Mark 10, 32—34.— Reading these words, we see the Saviour enter- ing upon His way of sorrow to suffer and to die for the sins of the world. After instituting the sacrament of the Holy Supper, He went with His disciples to » place called Gethsamane, and, taking with Him Peter and James and John, He ‘‘began to be sorrowful, and very heavy. Then saith He, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with gave up the ghost.’’ And when the centurian which stood over against Him, saw that He so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly, this man was the Son of God.’’— Looking upon the suffering and dying Sa- viour, the Son of God, we may ask, Why all this? Why was the only Holy Being that ever lived upon the earth, also the greatest of suffer- ers? Let the Bible answer this question. ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the in- iquity of us all.” Isaiah 58.—