# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1903_S9 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) ae ~The Lutheran Pioneer, A MISSIONARY MONTHLy. PusiisHep By THE EvANGELICAL LUTHERAN SynopICAL CONFERENCE oF Norra America R.A. BISCHOrFr, Editor. Entered at the Post Oflce at St. Lonis yf0., 28 S@Cond-Class matter, Vol. XXV. St. Louis, Mo., March, 1908. ‘No. 3. (SN ea ais end aneintaiainnge lls Wbiehneaabetianed eemeed Qeemiicnntnes-steesiaireSianEts For Me. Under an Eastern sky, Amid a rabble cry, God’s Son went forth to die For me! Thorn-crowned His blessed head, Blood-stained His weary tread, Cross-laden He was led For me! Pierced were His hands and feet, And over Him did beat God’s wrath and hell’s flerce heat For me! Thus wast Thou made all mine; Lord, make me wholly Thine, Grant grace and peace divine To me! WF. ——_~> e-amo a Christ, the Only Mediator. In the Romish church the Virgin Mary is worshiped and put in the place of Christ. The Son of God is robbed of His crown, and the honor due to Him only is given to a mere human being, who, like other sinners, found salvation only by faith in Him who alone is our Saviour and Mediator. In Catholic Spain the great day of the Passion season is not the Good Friday of the Lord’s death, but the Friday previous, sacred to the ‘Virgin of Sorrows,’’ the Vir- gin Mary. Her image is pierced with seven Swords, and beneath are the words: ‘‘Is there & sorrow like to my sorrow?”’ and above are the words: ‘‘I am the Mediatriz of the human race |’? What blasphemy! A mediator or media- trix, you know, is a person who mediates be- tween two parties; a person who puts away enmity and brings about reconciliation and makes peace between two parties. Because of sin there was enmity between the holy God and sinful man. If man was to be saved mediator was needed to put away enmity by putting away sin, thus reconciling God and making peace between God and man. Thank God'we have such a Mediator. But it is not the Virgin Mary. No. Itis Christ, who ‘‘ap- peared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Him- self,’’ Hebr. 9, 26. It ig Christ that ‘‘made peace through the blood of His cross,’’ Col. 1, 20. ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself,”’ 2 Cor. 5, 19. So Christ, and Christ only, is our Mediator. ‘Therefore St. Paul says, “There is one God, and one Me- diator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all,” 1 Tim. 2,5. As there is only one God, so there is only one Mediator between that one God and men. Who is that one Mediator? Not the Virgin Mary, but, as the apostle plainly says, ‘‘the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all.’’ In the season of Lent we see Christ as the Mediator of the human race on His way of suf- ferings and sorrows, giving Himself a ransom for all, putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and making peace through the blood of the cross. He is your Mediator, your only Mediator. He, and He alone, bore your sins and suffered and died in your stead, thus sacrificing Himself for you. Reject Him, and you are lost. Believe in Him, and you are saved. —__—2~< oo The Precious Blood. The blood of Jesus Christ is precious; for it is the blood of the Son of God, and it is the sinner’s only salvation. ‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Jesus Christ, the crucified Saviour, stands be- tween you and eternal punishment. If you miss Him, if you reject Him and count His blood a worthless thing, you are lost. ‘‘For with- out shedding of blood is no remission.”” God has given His Son to shed His blood for you. If you reject Him, there is no further help for you. When God gave His Son, He gave all that He had togive. After Him there remains no more sacrifice for sin, Redemption is found only in the blood of the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And all that enter heaven enter that haPPY place only by faith in His blood. Before the throne of the Lamb the saints in heave” Slug ‘‘a new song, saying, ‘‘Thou wast alai2 and hast re- deemed us to God by Thy plood Out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation,’’ Rev. 5, 9. : Dear readers, ‘‘ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,’’ 1 Pet. 1, 18. 19. ——. oP o-oo The Best of All. Walking once through the park near his castle, Prince Bismarck met an aged peasant, who told him he had been at the castle and had looked through all its rooms. To Bis- marck’s question what he had liked best, the old man answered: ‘Well, the finest thing, after all, is the crucifix of the Saviour hang- ing over the bed of the Princess.’” Where- upon Bismarck gave him his hand, saying: “TY am glad to hear that you think this the best of all. Indeed, if we had not our Saviour, we should be the most wretched creatures. But this Lord of ours is to us the treasure above all treasures.”’ The World Knows Not God. The world, since Adam’s Fall, knows neither God, her Creator, nor His creatures ; lives a life poorer than that of the cattle, honors not God, nor glorifies Him. Ah, if Adam had not sinned, how man would have recognized God in all the creatures, would have praised and loved Him, so that even in the smallest flower he would have seen and contemplated God’s almightiness, wisdom, and goodness. For truly, who can think to the bottom of this, how God creates out of the dry, dull earth so many flowers of such beautiful colors, and such sweet perfume, such as no painter nor apothe- cary can rival? From the common ground God is ever bringing forth flowers, golden, crimson, blue, brown, and of all colors. All this Adam and his like would have turned to God’s glory, using all the creatures with thanksgiving. But we misuse them sense- lessly, just as a cow or any unreasonable brute tramples the choicest and fairest flowers and lilies beneath its feet. — Luther.