# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1912_S26 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 26 The Lutheran Pioneer. An Easter Morning in Surinam. In Surinam, Dutch Guiana, South America, there is a leper village, named Bethesda, where many poor exiles, afllicted with the dreadful disease of leprosy, find a Christian home. It is a small village of little houses, each accommodating two patients in separate rooms. A missionary and his wife devoted themselves to the poor sufferers. ‘The missionary gives the following description of an Easter morning with the lepers in Surinam : — Early on Easter morning the lepers are assem- bled in their chapel. Quietly they await the com- ing of the missionary. Soon he enters with the joyful Easter greeting, “The Lord is risen!” The lepers rise, responding with the words, “He is risen indeed !” and triumphantly the words sound forth: Hail, all hail, victorious Lord and Savior! Thou hast burst the bonds of death! Grant us, as to Mary, that great favor To embrace Thy feet in faith! Thou hast in our stead the curse endured, And for us cternal life procured. Joyful, we with one accord Hail Thee as our risen Lord. The lepers now all pass out in silent procession to the last resting-place of the dead. Silently they move along, each one absorbed in his own thoughts. On the edge of the forest rises a cross from among the tall grass. They have now reached the peaceful graveyard of the leper colony. No high monuments of brass or stone adorn this resting- place of the dead. In vain would you seek even the simplest gravestone. “T am the Resurrection and the Life! Who- soever believeth in me shall live though he were dead!” Thus sound the words of Jesus, spoken by the missionary, the words of life and hope over the lowly graves of the departed. And as the sun rises on the opposite shore of the Surinam River, the company of cripples, men, women and children, all clad in:white, surround the graves of their former companions and friends whose long path of suffer- ing has ended here, Not far from these Christian lepers a ng number of heathen coolies listen to their Easter hymn of rejoicing: Jesus lives! Henceforth is death But the gate of life immortal; This shall calm. my trembling breath When I pass its gloomy portal; Faith shall cry, as fails each sense, Lord, Thou art my confidence! The hymn has died away. The Christian con- gregation unites in prayer to the risen Savior. Those among the lepers whose hands remain reverently fold them. The others cross their erip- pled members. ‘The missionary in his prayer com- mends them all to the heart of the all-compas- sionate Savior. He asks that an Easter blessing may also come upon the heathen people who still dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, far from the Easter light and hope. When the Amen has been said, the lepers extend to each other, over the graves of the departed, their crippled hands, during the singing of the hymn: We who here together are assembled, Joining hearts and hands in one, Bind ourselves with love that’s undissembled Christ to love and serve alone, Oh, may our imperfect songs and praises Be well-pleasing unto ‘Thee, Lord Jesus: Say, “My peace I leave with you.” Amen! Amen! Be it so! Now they return home to their cottages, the homeless exiles who by faith in the crucified and risen Savior have found the way to their Father's home on high and peace on earth. Across their scarred and disfigured faces passes a beam of Easter joy. They know that God’s messenger will some day come to their couch of suffering and gently bear them away from this valley of corruption into the land of the redeemed from many nations, where dwell the saints in light and where there shall be “no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.” “I Know that My Redeemer Liveth.”’ ’ Early on Easter Day, April 1, 1548, King Sigis- mund the First of Poland, aged 81 years, entered his beautiful chapel, together with several attend- ants. ‘Thoughtfully he there looked at the marble tomb which he had prepared during his lifetime. He sighed deeply as he felt that the hour was near in which he would have to exchange the throne for the coffin, the royal mantle for the shroud. At last he said, “Well, I know that my Re- deemer liveth. He will raise me again from my chamber of rest. With these my eyes .will I behold my Savior who to-day is risen from the dead.” Then he fell upon his knees, and while he was praying, the hour came which he felt to be so near. His soul passed into the presence of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life.