The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1883, Page 21

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLIsHED BY THE EvaNGELIcAL Lurnueran SynopicaL Conrerence oF Nort AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

St. Louis, Mo., June, 1883.

No. 6.

(For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer.’’)

St. John Baptist’s Day.

(JUNE 24.)

i Christ Jesus, Lamb of God, who art
The Life and Comfort of my heart,
I, 2 poor sinner, come to Thee
And bring my many sins with me.

O God, my sinfulness is great!

I groan beneath a dreadful weight;
Yet, be Thou merciful, I pray,
Take guilt and punishment away.

St. John, the Baptist, biddeth me

Cast all my sins, O Lord, on Thee,

For Thou didst leave Thy heavenly throne,
That ‘for our sizs Thou might’st atone.

Help me amend my ways, O Lord,
And willingly obey Thy Word;
Thus evermore abide with me,
And finally take me to Thee.
(Barthold Helder, 1620. Tr. by A. Crutl.)

Th

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Behold the Lamb of God!

John was the forerunner of Christ. At his
birth it was said of him: ‘Thou, child, shalt
be called the Prophet of the Highest; for thou
shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare
His ways,’’ Luke 1, 76. ‘‘And the child grew,
and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the des-
erts till the day of his showing unto Israel,’
Luke 1, 80. .And when that day came, his
voice was ‘‘the voice of one crying in the -wil-
‘derness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord.’? He
prepared the way of the Lord by showing to
the people their sins and by calling them to
repencince. ‘‘Repent ye,”’ cried he, ‘‘for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”’ But not only
did he convince them of their sins and call
them to repentance, but he also pointed them
to Jesus as the only Saviour of sinners. When
Christ entered upon His public ministry, John
bore witness of Him that He is the Son of God
and the Redeemer of the world. When he
saw Jesus coming unto him, he cried out and
said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world,’’ John 1, 29. Those
were precious Gospel words to all who had
come to the knowledge of their sins hy the
preaching of John. ‘They are still words of
sweetest comfort to every anxious sinner. Jesus

is the Lamb of God. He came into this world
to become a sacrifice for our sin, to be consumed
on the altar of the cross by the flames of His
love for sinners and by the flames of the divine
wrath against sin, which He had undertaken
to bear. He taketh away sin. For ‘‘the Lord
hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all,’
says the prophet. And St. Peter says, ‘He
Himself bare .our sins in His own body on the
tree,’ 1 Pet. 2,24. He taketh away the sin
of the world. Not only the sins of St. Peter
and Paul and other holy men. No! The sins
of the world. Nosinner, in all the world, let
him be who he will, or what he will, is shut
out. The Gospel, which brings us all the bless-
ings gained by the sacrifice of the Lamb of
God, points every sinner to Jesus and says,
“BEHOLD yOUR SAviouR!’’ We behold Him,
not with our bodily eyes, but with the eye of
faith and thus find in Him pardon of sin and
life everlasting. Perhaps you have been look-
ing to your own good works, your honesty, your
church-goings, your prayers, your good feelings.
These are good things in their places, but very
bad things to be put in the place of Christ.
Are they your saviours? Have they been ap-
pointed by God to take away sin? Does St.
John say, Behold ‘your works, your honesty,
your church-goings, your prayers, your good
feelings, which taketh away the sin of the
world? No! He points to Jesus and says,
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world!’’ Look away then from
anything you find in your own sinful self.
Look unto Jesus only as He is brought to you
in the Gospel, and be saved. Look unto Him
every day of your life, and find in Him for-
giveness of all sin.. Look unto Him in the
hour of death, and your faith shall then be
changed into sight, and you shall see Him face
to face in everlasting joy and bliss. ‘Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world!’”

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St. John’s Head.

In a village school, the teacher related the
history of the beheading of John the Baptist;
—how Herod promised Herodias’ daughter on
oath even the half of his kingdom, and at her re-

quest committed the vile murder. He gave
the children a vivid description of the unseemly
behavior of the silly girl, who had been incited
by her detestable mother, and showed what a
wicked heart was necessary in order to be able
in cold blood to demand so horrible a gift. At
last he asked, ‘‘Had the king a right to grant
the girl’s request, and to take the life of faith-
ful John?”’

With one voice the children replied: “No!’”

‘But he had sworn an oath. What answer,
then, should he have given to the daughter of
Herodias?”’

A long silence ensued. Finally a wide-awake
little fellow raised his hand,

‘Well, Fred, what might Herod have said
in order to save the Baptist’s life?”

“The head of John belongs to that half of the
kingdom which I will keep,’”’ was his bright ans-
wer. —From the German.

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God Is Love.

By Dr. MARTIN LUTHER,

“If we will only consider Him in His works,
we shall learn that God is nothing else but
pure, unutterable love, greater and more than
any one can think. The shameful thing is,
that the world does not regard this, nor thank -
Him for it, although every day it sees before
it such countless benefits from Him; and it
deserves for its ingratitude that the sun should
not shine another moment longrr nor the grass
to grow; yet He ceases not, fur one moment’s
interval, to love us and to do us good. Lan-
guage must fail me to speak of His spiritual
gifts. Here He pours forth for us, not sun
and moon, nor heaven and earth, but His own
heart, His beloved Son, so that He suffered
His bldod to be shed, and the most shameful
death to be inflicted on Him, for us wretched,
wicked, thankless creatures. How, then, can
we say anything but that God is an abyss of
endless, unfathomable love?””

2s eo

‘The reason the Dead Sea is dead, is said to
be because it is always receiving and never
giving out anything.