# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1894_S5 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) Che Lutheran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PusiisHep By THE EVANGELICAL LutneRAN SynopicaAL CONFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. XVI. St. Louis, Mo., February, 1894. No. 2. Behold the Man! Jesus, Saviour, Son of God, Bearer of the sinner’s load; Thou the sinner’s death hast died, Thou for us wast crucified; For our sins Thy flesh was torn, Thou the penalty hast borne Of our guilt, upon the tree, Which .the Father laid on Thee! Saviour, Surety, Lamb of God, Thou hast bought us with Thy blood; Thou hast wiped the debt away, Notliing left for us to pay; Nothing left for us to bear, Nothing left for us to share, But.the pardon and the bliss, But the love, the light, the peace. Bonar. ———————-_ - 0 oe The Lenten Season. In all. the Gospel sermons of the Church year we are told of the sufferings and death of our Saviour. And whenever the Lord’s Supper is celebrated in our churches, we are reminded of Christ’s sufferings and death, by which we were redeemed. For in that Holy Supper all communicants receive with the bread the true body of Christ which was given for them, and with the wine the true blood of Christ which was shed for the remission of their sins. But a special season of the Church year has been set apart, in which all members of the Church are called upon to meditate especially upon the sufferings and death of the Saviour. This season comprises the forty days before Faster and is called the Lenten Season. This season we observe, not because God has so commanded, but because we are con- vinced of the usefulness of devoting a special time of the year to the special contemplation of the sufferings and death of our Saviour. We receive great spiritual blessings by going with the suffering Saviour on His way of sor- rows from Gethsemane to Calvary, and by con- templating with contrite and prayerful hearts the great work of the only Mediator between God and man. We learn to know more fully what a horrible thing sin is. Men ‘often speak lightly of sin and practice it as if it amounted to nothing, but it is a horrible thing and hor- Tible are its results. God hates sin and must punish sin. When therefore the sin-hating God saw His Son bearing the sins of the world, He poured upon Him all the wrath that sin deserved. What a dreadful thing must sin be, since it brought upon Christ those bitter suffer- ings, that great agony, that shameful death upon the cross! How great must be God’s wrath over sin, since He spared not His be- loved Son when He saw Him laden with the sins of the world! And how great must be God's love to sin- ners! Christ is the Holy One, and there is no sin in Him. But He took our sins upon Himself and _bore the punishment which we deserved. ‘‘The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all,’’ says the prophet. And’ the apostle says, ‘‘He bore our sins.’” And what moved God the Father to send His Son into this world to bear our sins and to suffer and die in our stead? The Bible says, ‘‘God so loved the world that He gave His only- begotten Son.’? _And what moved the Son of God to offer Himself a sacrifice for our sins? He ‘‘loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,” says the Bible. Was ever love like this? Such love must move the sin- ner’s heart to trust in that Saviour for forgive- ness of. sin and life everlasting, and to love Him who loved us first. As we come to know more fully the great- ness of the Saviour’s love, shall not the very thought of self perish, and Christ be allin all? His honor, His kingdom, His glory, and the salvation of those He died to save, should be the themes and thoughts of.our grateful hearts. The observance of the Lenten season should make us more diligent in Christ’s service, more zealous in our mission work. ——q@ oa oe ; The Season of Lent. In this season of the year it is customary for the Church, both in her hymns and ser- mons, to dwell especially upon the passion of Christ. We also will follow this custom. In- deed, we consider it very appropriate that the narrative of the sufferings of our Lord should, at a certain fixed period of the year, be read in the churches to the people, word for word, from beginning to end, and that it be fully explained to them, so that they may under- stand its use, and derive from it much con- solation. — Luther. Which was the Fool? There was a certain nobleman who kept a fool, to whom one day he gave a staff, with a charge to keep it-till he should meet with one who was a greater fool than himself. Years passed by, the nobleman fell sick, even unto death. He said to his fool, ‘‘I must shortly leave you.”’ ‘And whither are you going?’’~ said -the jester. ‘‘Fnto another world,’’ replied his lord- ship. ‘‘And when will you return? * Within a month?’ ‘*No.’’ ‘‘Within a year?’’ .‘‘No.’” “When then?’’ ‘‘Never!’’ ‘‘Never?’’ said the fool. ‘*And what provision have you made for your entertainment, whither you are going ?”’” asked the fool. ‘‘None at all!’’ .‘* What, none at all?’’ said the fool. ‘‘Here, then, take my, staff; for with all my folly I am not guilty of any such folly as this!”"—From the German. A Gentle Reminder. An old man and a young man were riding in a stage coach. The old man was grave but sprightly, short of stature, spare, with a, smooth forehead, a fresh complexion, and a bright and piercing eye. The young man swore a great deal; until once when they stopped to change horses, the old man said. to him, ‘‘I perceive by the registry books that you and I are going to travel together a long distance in this coach. I have a favor to ask of you. I am getting to be an old man, and if I should so forget mys self as to swear, you. will oblige me if you will caution me about it.” The young man instantly apologized, and there was no more Swearing heard from him during: that journey. —_—_——-o