# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1887_S9 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) . o- Che Lutheran Pioneer, A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyYNODICAL CONFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA. Vol. IX. “Christ our Passover.’’ 1 ContnTINANS 5, 7. Thou Pascal Lamb, appointed By God the Father’s love; That we through His anointed, Might all His mercy prove :— Through Thee we have salvation. Life, pardon, peace, obtain; And praise with adoration, The Lamb for sinners slain. Freedom from condemnation, Could only come by Thee; Through Thy humiliation, And sufferings on the tree. Thy weight of sorrow bearing, From Satan, man, and God; And love to us declaring, Through Thy. atoning blood. We praise Thee, Holy Saviour! That Thou didst suffer thus: And in Thy loving favor, Endure the curse for us. “Through everlasting ages, All glory be to Thee; While this, each heart engages Thy love on Calvary. We wait for Thine appearing, To chase the night away; The welcome summons hearing, To call us hence away. Thy saints will then in glory Redeeming love proclaim ; While they rejoice before Thee, That ‘‘ Worthy is the Lamb.” Selected. ———— +o os The Suffering Saviour. Through the days of Lent we follow the suffering Saviour on His way of sorrows and | fect justice. The great sacrifice for sin was behold the great agonies which He suffered for offered on Calvary. There remains no more | healed. Seeing the sufferings of Christ for us, ‘Jing left him but a certain fearful looking for R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Ofiice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. St. Louis, Mo., March, 1887. No. 3. our sins. In those agonies we find fitting oc- casion for woe and rejoicing. ‘‘The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all,’’ and we realize that it was the burden of our sins which oppressed Him, and their heinousness which brought upon Him, the spotless Lamb, the wrath of an offended God. How great was the evil of those sins, that could lead to such a punishment! How great our guilt! Well may we cry out in the utmost humiliation when we remember that it was our sin which laid the gracious Saviour low. My sins were the scourges which sank into His quivering flesh, and crowned His majestic brow with thorns. My sins cried out, “Crucify Him.’’ My sins caused Him to sweat as it were great drops of blood. My sins wrung from Him the piteous ery of agony, ‘‘ My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”’ Well may we pause at the foot of the cross, and mourn; for it was our sins which nailed the sinless Son of God there. But as we station ourselves before the Cross, our faith will mingle rejoicing with our tears of penitence. Beholding the cruel sufferings of the great Sin-Bearer, and knowing that it was our sin which He bore in His own body on the tree, we shall rejoice that He has paid the price, that He has borne the punishment justly due to us, and that by. His stripes we are sacrifice for sin, and he who despises the grace of God shown in the person and work of Jesus, * may well tremble at the prospect of going into the presence of Him in whose sight the very heavens are not clean. To such an one the pangs of Calvary speak only of unending woe, of eternal suffering. Oh, that men would but gaze upon the suffering Saviour, and looking by faith receive from Him the assurance of sins forever blotted out. Dear reader, look to Him and be saved! ——_—~+ om o > The Little Lamb. One evening Gotthold met a shepherd who was walking behind his flock, and carrying in his arms a little Jamb which had been born in the field. This reminded him of our Lord Je- sus Christ, the Good Shepherd; and he thought of what Isaiah had foretold of him: ‘‘ He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young”’ (Isa. 40, 11). Then Gotthold said further to himself: Be it far from me, O my Lord, to think for one mo- ment that this shepherd is more tender and careful of his lambs than Thou, O blessed Lord Jesus, art of Thine own people, whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy most precious blood! (1 Pet. 1, 18, 19.) O most faithfulShepherd! if Thou didst not carry the weak and tender lambs, seek the lost, bring back the wandering, and bind up the wounds of those who are hurt and bleed- ing, soon Thou wouldst have no flock at all. For all have strayed from Thy fuld, lost them- selves, and -been wounded and bruised by sin. In Thee alone have they help and safety. O my Redeemer! we Thy people are like sheep, timid, foolish, weak, and helpless; but Thou art the Good Shepherd, who seest all things, knowest all things, and canst do all things. If Thou wert to leave us to ourselves, who could preserve us from destruction? Omy merciful and faithful Shepherd! raise and carry my weary soul. Care for me, that [may not be left behind. Be Thou my help and guide, so shall I praise and bless Thee for ever and ever. Zul we shall do honor to Him, by accepting the full, perfect atonement for sin therein con- tained, and rejoice that there is now no con- demnation to them that are in Christ by faith. Great and glorious is the fruit which springs from the tears, the sighs, the bitter woes of our Lord’s passion. But the sufferings of Christ give awful warn- ings to all who refuse to accept His atoning work. The sinner who rejects Christ has noth- of vengeance. If the penalty of sin caused such agony to Him who was sinless, what must be the fate of those who fall into the hands of an angry God with all the weight of their sins upon them; of those who refusing His own gracious plan of redemption are left to face per-