# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1909_S17
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A. MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

~ rr ©

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Pusuisuep BY THE Evancenican Lurieran SynoprcaL Conrerence oF Nortit AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Eprron.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Lous, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. XXXI.

No. 3.

For Me and Thee.

Upon a lonely hill I see

One on the cruel tree;

From hands and feet and wounded side

There gently flows a living tide;

His life is ebbing thus for thee —
For me and thee.

Pressed rudely on ITis brow T see

A crown of cruelty,

Though I and thou have helped to place

The piercing thorns upon His face,

His prayer ascends from yonder tree
For me and thee.

With bitter grief and shame L see

That head bowed low for me.

But also, in that saddened face,

L see a sweet forgiving grace,

And deep compassion, friend, for thee —
For me and thee.

Oh, He endured so much for thee —

For me and thee.

He suffered on the shameful tree;

The Lord of glory died for thee —
For me and thee. ’ W.C. Martin.

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Jesus on the Cross.

Jesus on the cross! What does it mean? It is
written: “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a
tree.’ But how can He be cursed over whom the
heavens were twice opened and-the Father’s voice
was heard saying: “This is my beloved Son in
whom I am well pleased”? He “was holy, harm-
less, undefiled, and separate from sinners.” He
“did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.”
He was “a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
On a certain occasion He said to His enemies:

ST. LOUIS, MO., MARCH, 1909.

“Which of you convinceth me of sin?” and, although
they had watched Him with the keenest interest,
and had eagerly sought some ground of accusation
against Him, not one of them dared to say that He
had been guilty of the slightest wrong. Pilate, the
Roman governor, before whom He was tried, called
Him a “just person,’ and said again and again,
“T find no fault in Him.” And yet, Jesus on the
cross! What does it mean?

Let the Bible tell you. St. Paul says: “Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being
made a curse for us;” “Christ died for us;” “Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”
St. Peter says of Christ crucified: He “bare our
sins in His own body on the tree;” and St. John
says of Him: “He is the propitiation for our sins.”

From these and other passages of Holy Scrip-
tures we learn that Christ suffered and died for us,
in our stead, in our place. We are sinners. And
sin is not a light, a trifling thing, as many people
think. No. Sin is an awful thing, and dreadful
are its consequences. “The soul that sinneth, it
shall die’ “The wages of sin is death,” eternal
death. Sin is a transgression of God’s holy Law,
and brings upon the sinner the curse of that Law;
for it is written: “Cursed is every one that con-
tinueth not in all things which are written in the
book of the Law to do them.” Sin is rebellion
against the Most High and brings upon the sinner
the wrath of a just and holy God, who hates sin and
must punish sin; for it is written: “Thou art not
a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; neither
shall evil dwell with Thee.” And “it-is a fearful
thing to fall into the-hands of the living God,”
whose wrath against sin “burns unto the lowest
hell.”