The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1887, Page 9

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Che Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyYNODICAL CONFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.

Vol. IX.

“Christ our Passover.’’

1 ContnTINANS 5, 7.

Thou Pascal Lamb, appointed
By God the Father’s love;
That we through His anointed,

Might all His mercy prove :—

Through Thee we have salvation.

Life, pardon, peace, obtain;
And praise with adoration,
The Lamb for sinners slain.

Freedom from condemnation,
Could only come by Thee;
Through Thy humiliation,
And sufferings on the tree.
Thy weight of sorrow bearing,
From Satan, man, and God;
And love to us declaring,
Through Thy. atoning blood.

We praise Thee, Holy Saviour!
That Thou didst suffer thus:
And in Thy loving favor,
Endure the curse for us.
“Through everlasting ages,
All glory be to Thee;
While this, each heart engages
Thy love on Calvary.

We wait for Thine appearing,
To chase the night away;

The welcome summons hearing,
To call us hence away.

Thy saints will then in glory
Redeeming love proclaim ;

While they rejoice before Thee,
That ‘‘ Worthy is the Lamb.”

Selected.

———— +o os

The Suffering Saviour.

Through the days of Lent we follow the
suffering Saviour on His way of sorrows and | fect justice. The great sacrifice for sin was
behold the great agonies which He suffered for offered on Calvary. There remains no more

| healed. Seeing the sufferings of Christ for us,

‘Jing left him but a certain fearful looking for

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

St. Louis, Mo., March, 1887. No. 3.

our sins. In those agonies we find fitting oc-
casion for woe and rejoicing. ‘‘The Lord hath
laid upon Him the iniquity of us all,’’ and we
realize that it was the burden of our sins which
oppressed Him, and their heinousness which
brought upon Him, the spotless Lamb, the
wrath of an offended God.

How great was the evil of those sins, that
could lead to such a punishment! How great
our guilt! Well may we cry out in the utmost
humiliation when we remember that it was
our sin which laid the gracious Saviour low.
My sins were the scourges which sank into His
quivering flesh, and crowned His majestic
brow with thorns. My sins cried out, “Crucify
Him.’’ My sins caused Him to sweat as it
were great drops of blood. My sins wrung
from Him the piteous ery of agony, ‘‘ My God,
my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”’ Well
may we pause at the foot of the cross, and
mourn; for it was our sins which nailed the
sinless Son of God there.

But as we station ourselves before the Cross,
our faith will mingle rejoicing with our tears
of penitence. Beholding the cruel sufferings
of the great Sin-Bearer, and knowing that it
was our sin which He bore in His own body on
the tree, we shall rejoice that He has paid the
price, that He has borne the punishment justly
due to us, and that by. His stripes we are

sacrifice for sin, and he who despises the grace
of God shown in the person and work of Jesus, *
may well tremble at the prospect of going into
the presence of Him in whose sight the very
heavens are not clean. To such an one the
pangs of Calvary speak only of unending woe,
of eternal suffering. Oh, that men would but
gaze upon the suffering Saviour, and looking
by faith receive from Him the assurance of sins
forever blotted out. Dear reader, look to Him
and be saved!

——_—~+ om o >

The Little Lamb.

One evening Gotthold met a shepherd who
was walking behind his flock, and carrying in
his arms a little Jamb which had been born in
the field. This reminded him of our Lord Je-
sus Christ, the Good Shepherd; and he thought
of what Isaiah had foretold of him: ‘‘ He shall
feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather
the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his
bosom, and shall gently lead those that are
with young”’ (Isa. 40, 11).

Then Gotthold said further to himself: Be it
far from me, O my Lord, to think for one mo-
ment that this shepherd is more tender and
careful of his lambs than Thou, O blessed Lord
Jesus, art of Thine own people, whom Thou hast
redeemed with Thy most precious blood! (1 Pet.
1, 18, 19.) O most faithfulShepherd! if Thou
didst not carry the weak and tender lambs, seek
the lost, bring back the wandering, and bind
up the wounds of those who are hurt and bleed-
ing, soon Thou wouldst have no flock at all.
For all have strayed from Thy fuld, lost them-
selves, and -been wounded and bruised by sin.
In Thee alone have they help and safety.

O my Redeemer! we Thy people are like
sheep, timid, foolish, weak, and helpless; but
Thou art the Good Shepherd, who seest all
things, knowest all things, and canst do all
things. If Thou wert to leave us to ourselves,
who could preserve us from destruction? Omy
merciful and faithful Shepherd! raise and
carry my weary soul. Care for me, that [may
not be left behind. Be Thou my help and
guide, so shall I praise and bless Thee for ever
and ever. Zul

we shall do honor to Him, by accepting the
full, perfect atonement for sin therein con-
tained, and rejoice that there is now no con-
demnation to them that are in Christ by faith.
Great and glorious is the fruit which springs
from the tears, the sighs, the bitter woes of
our Lord’s passion.

But the sufferings of Christ give awful warn-
ings to all who refuse to accept His atoning
work. The sinner who rejects Christ has noth-

of vengeance. If the penalty of sin caused
such agony to Him who was sinless, what must
be the fate of those who fall into the hands of
an angry God with all the weight of their sins
upon them; of those who refusing His own
gracious plan of redemption are left to face per-