The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1903, Page 9

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

ae

~The Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLy.

PusiisHep By THE EvANGELICAL LUTHERAN SynopICAL CONFERENCE oF Norra America

R.A. BISCHOrFr, Editor.
Entered at the Post Oflce at St. Lonis yf0., 28 S@Cond-Class matter,

Vol. XXV. St. Louis, Mo., March, 1908.

‘No. 3.

(SN ea ais end aneintaiainnge lls Wbiehneaabetianed eemeed Qeemiicnntnes-steesiaireSianEts

For Me.
Under an Eastern sky,
Amid a rabble cry,
God’s Son went forth to die
For me!

Thorn-crowned His blessed head,
Blood-stained His weary tread,
Cross-laden He was led

For me!

Pierced were His hands and feet,

And over Him did beat

God’s wrath and hell’s flerce heat
For me!

Thus wast Thou made all mine;
Lord, make me wholly Thine,
Grant grace and peace divine

To me!
WF.

——_~> e-amo a

Christ, the Only Mediator.

In the Romish church the Virgin Mary is

worshiped and put in the place of Christ. The

Son of God is robbed of His crown, and the
honor due to Him only is given to a mere
human being, who, like other sinners, found
salvation only by faith in Him who alone is

our Saviour and Mediator.

In Catholic Spain the great day of the
Passion season is not the Good Friday of
the Lord’s death, but the Friday previous,
sacred to the ‘Virgin of Sorrows,’’ the Vir-
gin Mary. Her image is pierced with seven
Swords, and beneath are the words: ‘‘Is there
& sorrow like to my sorrow?”’ and above are
the words: ‘‘I am the Mediatriz of the human
race |’?

What blasphemy! A mediator or media-
trix, you know, is a person who mediates be-
tween two parties; a person who puts away
enmity and brings about reconciliation and
makes peace between two parties. Because
of sin there was enmity between the holy God
and sinful man. If man was to be saved
mediator was needed to put away enmity by
putting away sin, thus reconciling God and
making peace between God and man. Thank
God'we have such a Mediator. But it is not
the Virgin Mary. No. Itis Christ, who ‘‘ap-
peared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Him-

self,’’ Hebr. 9, 26. It ig Christ that ‘‘made
peace through the blood of His cross,’’ Col.
1, 20. ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto Himself,”’ 2 Cor. 5, 19. So Christ,
and Christ only, is our Mediator. ‘Therefore
St. Paul says, “There is one God, and one Me-

diator between God and men, the man Christ

Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all,”
1 Tim. 2,5. As there is only one God, so
there is only one Mediator between that one
God and men. Who is that one Mediator?
Not the Virgin Mary, but, as the apostle
plainly says, ‘‘the man Christ Jesus, who gave
Himself a ransom for all.’’

In the season of Lent we see Christ as the
Mediator of the human race on His way of suf-
ferings and sorrows, giving Himself a ransom
for all, putting away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself, and making peace through the blood
of the cross. He is your Mediator, your only
Mediator. He, and He alone, bore your sins
and suffered and died in your stead, thus
sacrificing Himself for you. Reject Him, and
you are lost. Believe in Him, and you are

saved.
—__—2~< oo

The Precious Blood.

The blood of Jesus Christ is precious; for
it is the blood of the Son of God, and it is the
sinner’s only salvation. ‘The blood of Jesus
Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Jesus Christ, the crucified Saviour, stands be-
tween you and eternal punishment. If you miss
Him, if you reject Him and count His blood
a worthless thing, you are lost. ‘‘For with-
out shedding of blood is no remission.”” God
has given His Son to shed His blood for you.
If you reject Him, there is no further help for
you. When God gave His Son, He gave all
that He had togive. After Him there remains
no more sacrifice for sin, Redemption is found
only in the blood of the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. And all
that enter heaven enter that haPPY place only
by faith in His blood. Before the throne of
the Lamb the saints in heave” Slug ‘‘a new
song, saying, ‘‘Thou wast alai2 and hast re-
deemed us to God by Thy plood Out of every

kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation,’’
Rev. 5, 9. :

Dear readers, ‘‘ye were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold, but
with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot,’’ 1 Pet. 1,
18. 19.

——. oP o-oo

The Best of All.

Walking once through the park near his
castle, Prince Bismarck met an aged peasant,
who told him he had been at the castle and
had looked through all its rooms. To Bis-
marck’s question what he had liked best, the
old man answered: ‘Well, the finest thing,
after all, is the crucifix of the Saviour hang-
ing over the bed of the Princess.’” Where-
upon Bismarck gave him his hand, saying:
“TY am glad to hear that you think this the best
of all. Indeed, if we had not our Saviour, we
should be the most wretched creatures. But
this Lord of ours is to us the treasure above
all treasures.”’

The World Knows Not God.

The world, since Adam’s Fall, knows neither
God, her Creator, nor His creatures ; lives a life
poorer than that of the cattle, honors not God,
nor glorifies Him. Ah, if Adam had not
sinned, how man would have recognized God
in all the creatures, would have praised and
loved Him, so that even in the smallest flower
he would have seen and contemplated God’s
almightiness, wisdom, and goodness. For
truly, who can think to the bottom of this, how
God creates out of the dry, dull earth so many
flowers of such beautiful colors, and such
sweet perfume, such as no painter nor apothe-
cary can rival? From the common ground
God is ever bringing forth flowers, golden,
crimson, blue, brown, and of all colors. All
this Adam and his like would have turned
to God’s glory, using all the creatures with
thanksgiving. But we misuse them sense-
lessly, just as a cow or any unreasonable brute
tramples the choicest and fairest flowers and
lilies beneath its feet. — Luther.