The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1880, Page 50

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

On the Cross. -

Our ;picture shows us Christ nailed to the
tree of the cross, and the Bible tells us, ‘Cursed
is every one that hangeth on a tree.’’ So the
curse and wrath of a just and holy God was
upon Him. Why? Was He a great sinner?
No! Pilate, the judge, before whom He had
been brought, said again and again, “I find no
fault in him.’’ No fault in Him! No! He was
the holy Son of God, “‘holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners’ (Hebr. 7, 26.); He ‘‘did
no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth’’
(1 Pet. 2, 22.). No fault in Him! No! He was
perfect in all His thoughts, perfect in all His
words, perfect in all His ways. God was fully
satisfied with Him. ‘This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased” (Matth. 3, 17.).
No fault in Him! Yet He was nailed to the tree
of the cross, and ‘‘cursed is every one that
hangeth on a tree.’’ How is this? Let the
Bible tell you. ‘‘Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us,
for it is written, Cursed is every one that
hangeth on a tree’ (Gal. 3, 13.). ‘His own
self bare our sins in His body. on the tree”
(1 Pet. 2, 24.). God “hath made Him to be
sin for us, who knew.no sin; that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him’’ (2 Cor.
5, 21.). ‘All we like sheep have gone astray:
we have turned every one to his own way; and
the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all
(Isa. 58, 6.). He “‘gave himself for our sins’’
(Gal. 1, 4.).

From these and many other passages of the
Bible we learn that Christ suffered and died in
our stead, in our place. By our sins we deserved
the eternal curse and punishment of a just and
holy God. God cannot overlook our sins; for
His justice demands the punishment of every
sin. We could not deliver ourselves from the
curse and wrath of God, and no angel could
deliver us from that curse and wrath of God.
So God’s own beloved Son—oh, unspeakable
love of God!—came down from heaven; He
became man; He took our sins upon Himself;
and the wrath of God, which we have deserved,
was poured out on Him; He turned the light-
ning of God’s curse, which ought to strike us,
upon His own head, in order to deliver us from
eternal death. Behold Him amid the gloomy
olive trees of Gethsemane, groaning under the
heavy burden of our sins, and in His agony
sweating great drops of blood! Behold Him
mocked, and dragged from one tribunal to the
other! Behold His body scourged and torn by
the cruel whips of Roman soldiers! Behold
Him crowned with a crown of thorns and the
blood rushing down His cheeks! Behold Him
hurried through the streets to Calvary, flung
on the ground, nailed to the cross, hoisted in
the air! Hear that cry of abandoned woe,
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?” The wrath of God is poured out on Him,
and His body and soul are given over to the
greatest sufferings, until, when all is finished,
amidst bursting tombs, and rending rocks, and

earthquake shocks, He dies, the Just One for
the unjust.

Oh, what a horrible thing sin is! Whata
great offence against God! Our sins, yes, our
sins have brought that great suffering of body
and soul on the Holy One of God. Our sins
scourged that holy body, and platted that crown
of thorns, and pressed it on that holy head.
Our sins nailed that Man of sorrows to the cross
and put Him to death. Oh, blessed are those
that thus acknowledge and feel their sins!
They can find salvation in that Saviour on the
cross. By His sufferings and death He has re-
deemed us from eternal sufferings and death in
hell. His death brings us life, and ‘‘by His
wounds we are healed’’. His blood ‘‘cleanseth
us from all sins’, and though our “‘sins be as
scarlet they shall be white as snow, though they
be red like crimson they shall be as wool.’’

He has paid the price of our redemption,
and by His crown of thorns He has won for us
the golden crown of glory in heaven. Oh,
then, Jet us seek salvation in no other! Come,
believe in Him and He will give you rest.
His arms, once extended on the cross, are still
open to receive the chief of sinners.

“Each drop of blood proclaims there’s room,

And bids the poor and needy come.’’

By true faith in Him we shall once see Him
in His glory, ‘seated in the midst of the throne’;
and we shall join the grand chorus of the re-
deemed, singing, ‘‘Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain, and who hath redeemed us to God
by His blood!”’

—>~-o< e+

What the “Pioneer” told us.

For one year the little Pionrer paid his
visits every month to his friends. It is a very
short time, but still we can profit by the expe-
rience of one year. So we sat down one eve-
ning and asked our little traveller how he fared
on his journey. ‘‘Very well’, he said. ‘I was
welcomed in 2400 homes, and as all the readers

paid their 25 cents, as honest people always do,.

I think my traveling-expenses were all paid.
The paper did not satisfy all the people; some
thought the articles were too long, others
thought they were too short; some thought
they were too doctrinal, others thought there
was not enough doctrine, but too many stories.’’
Here we listened very attentively in order to
profit by the experience of one year, but with
a smile the little Pronzer looked up and said,
"You know we cannot satisfy all people.’ We
told him he was right there, and he proceeded
in his talk. ‘In some houses’’,.he said, “people
read very little of the paper; they hardly glance
at it, and then put it away into some corner or
behind the big clock, which is such a noisy
place.”” Our little talker looked very sad when
he told us all this, but we told him that many
of those people had other papers to read, and
only wished to help to pay his traveling-expenses
by taking the paper, and that he ought to be
thankful to them. He thought we were right

this time, and as he proceeded in his talk his
little blue eyes brightened and he smiled all
over, so that we knew he had something good

to tellus. ‘‘Many readers’’, he said, ‘‘are very
glad when the paper comes; they read it all
through, why, some read it again and again,
and they told me that they had learned the
Gospel from it, and had learned to understand
the Bible better, and they would not do without
the paper, and they put every number away
nicely in some big book, so that by and by
they can have the paper bound, and they hope
it will do some good yet after they are dead.’’—
We were glad that our little traveller had ex-
perienced such joy in his journey; for we had
feared that he would not be willing to go around
another year after having made many sad ex-
periences. So we told,him that he must travel
on again, and that he ought to do it joyfully,
since he was doing some good and had been
treated so kindly by so many friends. ‘“Oh, I
was afraid you would not send me again’, he
said; “Iam glad to go and to see old friends,
and I'll gain more friends, and I’ll—’ we inter-
rupted him here, and told him to travel on
without expecting too much, and to keep up
his courage amid all adversities.

And so our little Pioneer will come to you
every month, dear reader. He is still very
young and has a hard road to travel. ‘Treat
him kindly when he comes. May our merciful
God bless the paper in the coming year!

——=—o— + o~<> 0»
Volume II.

DEAR PIONEER:

So your first volume is already completed,
and the second is to begin at all hazards.
Permit me to tender my sincere congratulations
on your anniversary. May you live, grow, and
prosper! May your friends and readers increase
to thousands! You deserve it on account of
your worth and work, as many of your readers
can testify who welcome you in their homes and
are glad to see you open Volume II. Keep on
then, dear Pronrrr, for you have effected much
good in the past and will do so in the future.
Perhaps you will, at some time, become an in-
dispensable necessity to many. .

God never intended our Lutheran Church
to be tied down to the German language, nor
its work to be confined to the Germans only.
We want to sce it spread, therefore, among all
nations of the earth and, particularly, among
the English-speaking people of our own country.
But how can the Lutheran Church accomplish
her mission without the aid of books, tracts, and
regular periodicals? ‘These aids and assistants
to the work of our ministers must not be over-
looked. In fact, we cannot get along without
the assistance of the printing-press. Hence the
necessity of the Pronrer. The advantages of
the Pioneer for our missions and missionary
purposes are apparent. It is sound in doctrine-
All its articles show forth a holy zeal to save
souls; to instruct and edify the Christian, t0
make known our Church to all people. The