The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1893, Page 9

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Che Autheran Pioneer.

: A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

.

PusuisHeD By THE EvaNceLicaL Lutneran SynopicaL ConFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XV.

St. Louis, Mo., March, 1898.

No. 3.

The Precious Blood.

Lord Jesus Christ! Thy precious blood
Is to my soul the highest good:

Of all my sins a perfect cure,

It quickens me and makes me pure.

Thy blood, my spotless glorious dress—
Thy innocence, my righteousness :
Before my God I pardoned stand

And enter, crowned, the heavenly land.

Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Son of God!

My Throne of Grace, my Staff and Rod!
Thy precious blood, Thy quick’ning power
My spirit strenghten every hour.

And should I draw my dying breath

In fear of Satan, hell, and death—

O Christ! let this my comfort be:

Thy blood from sin hath made me free!

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Our Substitute.

Do you know what a substitute is? A sub-
stitute is one that takes the place of another.
In the time of war Mr. Brown was drafted
and ordered to take his place with the troops
down South. But Mr. Brown had a large
family which he did not wish to leave, and he
got a young man to go in his place. That
young man was Brown’s substitute. He took
Brown’s place and went to war in Brown’s
stead. That is substitution—one man taking
the place of another, and answering for him,
and giving his life to the horrors of war in
his stead.

Reader, do you know the sinner’s substitute ?
Do you know Him who took the sinner’s place
and suffered punishment in his stead? Jesus,
the Son of God, is our substitute. By our
sins we have deserved the curse of God and
eternal damnation. ‘The Bible says, ‘‘The
soul that sinneth it shall die.”’ And again
the Bible says, ‘‘Cursed is every one that con-
tinueth not in all things written in the book
of the law to do them.’”? Can you provide
one to take your place and suffer the punish-
tent due to your sins? In vain would you
try to provide a substitute. God Himself has
provided a substitute. He has given His Son
@ ransom for sinners. The Bible says, ‘‘God
commendeth His love toward us, in that, while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’”

Again it says, ‘‘Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us.’? And again it says, ‘‘His own self bare
our sins in His body on the tree.’? From these
and many other passages of the Bible we see
that Christ took our place, bearing God’s
wrath against sin, in our stead. In the sea-
son of Lent we behold the sinner’s Substitute,
suffering and dying for us. His agony is our
agony, His sufferings are our sufferings, His
death is our death. We deserved it all, but
He took our place, and suffered and died in
our stead, thus redeeming us from sin and all
its woe. He that accepts this Substitute and
believes in Christ as his Saviour has forgive-
ness of all his sins and enjoys the payment
made by Christ in his stead.

There was an old soldier, who on his dying-
bed confessed himself a sinner, but seemed
to stumble at the thought that he must be
saved without any goodness or efforts of his
own, simply by faith in the work of One who
had taken his place and had suffered and died
in his stead. At last the pastor opened the
fifty-third chapter of the prophet Isaiah and
said, ‘‘There is one verse here to which I ask
your special attention: ‘All we like sheep have
gone astray’— that is what God says about you
and me; is it true?’’

‘tYes,’’ the soldier promptly replied, ‘‘it is
true, for this is what I have done for more
than seventy years.”’

‘God speaks the truth then about you?”

‘tYes, sir, He does.’’

‘‘Listen to the next clause: ‘we have turned
every one to his own way’—that is what God
says about you and me; is it true?’”

‘*Yes,’’ he answered, ‘‘it is true, for all my
life I have turned to my own way, and not
gone God’s way.’’

‘God then speaks the truth about you?’’

‘tYes, sir, He does.’’

“Listen now to the next clause: ‘and the
Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
You admit that God tells the truth in the first
two clauses of the verse, and does He not tell
the truth in the last clause? And since God
tells the truth when He says that He has laid
all our iniquities on Christ, if you believe this
to be the truth, you must see that your sins

can not be on you and on Jesus too. God
says He has laid them on His Son; do you
believe Him ?’’

The old man looked at the pastor in silence
for a few moments, and then with tears start-
ing from his eyes, he earnestly said, ‘‘Yes,
and I am satisfied; Jesus suffered and died
for me.’’ He soon departed this life, rejoicing
in the work of his Substitute.

——s +o o> oe

Meaner than a Dog.

A member of the church came to his pastor,
complaining that the latter used very strong
language in the pulpit. ‘‘Such at least is my
aim,’’ was the reply, ‘‘and if I fail it is due to
my inability, not to my want of inclination.’’
‘“‘Well, you said yesterday that man was
meaner than a dog; what am I to understand
by that statement?’ ‘‘The words are so
simple I supposed that a child could under-
stand them. You know what a man is?’’
“Yes.’? ‘*You know what a dog is?’’ ‘‘Yes.’’
‘“<Of course you know what it is to be mean.
Now put the words together; ‘man is meaner
than a dog:’ is there any real difficulty in
understanding them?’”? ‘But you certainly
had some one in view when you used the
words; may I ask who was before your mind’s
eye?” ‘*You, for example.’’

The pastor went on to say, ‘‘It will do no
good to get angry; let us reason together.
Have you ever owned a dog?’’ ‘‘Yes.’’ ‘‘That
dog was kicked and cuffed, and driven out of
the house, and exposed to the cold and rain,
but he never harmed you. If you threw him
a crust or a bone, how thankful he was! If
you noticed him kindly, how he wagged his
tail with delight! How lovingly and wistfully
he gazed into your eyes for one look of recog-
nition! How eagerly he licked your hands
and feet, if you permitted him, and how gladly
he would lie before your door to defend you
with his life! Have you ever been as grate-
ful to God for His innumerable and unspeak-
able mercies, and as loyal to the Lord Jesus
Christ, as your dog was to you?’’ ‘‘No.’?
“<T have proved my proposition ; man is meaner
than a dog.”” - J..H. B.

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