The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1908, Page 36

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

36

The Lutheran Pioneer.

God-man, the only man that never yielded to temp-
tation; that always walked in perfect love to God
and towards men, both friends and foes, even pray-
ing for those that persecuted Him; that in each
of the varied relations of life acted strictly accord-
ing to the precepts for that position; that from
His birth to His last breath ever did justly and
loved mercy: nor can we delay to depict that life
of suffering, to show how hard His lot was even-at
His first appearance among men at Bethlehem;
to consider how, when He went about doing good,
He had to endure the contradictions of sinners

Our Lord’s Ascension.

‘*While He blessed them, He was parted from them,

and carried up into heaven,” Luke 24, 51.

against Himself; to present His great passion on
Maundy Thursday and Good Friday — that agon-
izing conflict in the Garden of Gethsemane, that
horrible torture of body. and soul on the cross, when
that awful, heart-rending cry pierced the darkness:
“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”
Our object now is to learn what this life without
blemish, ending in this most cruel and shameful
crucifixion, has to do with our justification. It is
to this, to what Christ has done and suffered, that
God looks when He forgives us our sins, in other
_ words, when He declares us just without works, as
St. Paul says, Rom. 3, 24: “Being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus.” ‘ J. Px. 8.

A Blessed Family.

Once upon a time there was in Strassburg a
teacher who had a very limited income. He had
nine children, and to feed them was no small diffi-
culty. If, on the 1st of January he would have
begun to calculate how many suits of clothes,
dresses, shoes, and stockings, how much bread, meat,
and butter they would need during the year, his
head would have begun to swim and his heart would
have given-up in despair —had he not known the
Father in heaven. Moreover, the nine were no small
number to find room for under his
small roof, so that, if there was
little room already for their beds,
there was still less for the games
and sports which cannot be denied
childhood. Father and mother,
however, knew how to govern their
household. Whoever visited the
teacher’s house was surprised to
see the order and cleanliness of
the home, the neatness and tidi-
ness of the children, the thought-
fulness and helpfulness of the
older boys and girls, and the bear-
ing with which father and mother
moved among them all.

One day the teacher received
a visit just at dinner time. When
the stranger saw the nine children
sitting at the table and working
over their plates, he said, with a
voice of pity: “Poor man, what
an affliction you have to bear!”

' “I an affliction to bear!” said
the astonished teacher ;. “how so?”

“Nine children, and seven of them boys!” an-
swered the visitor, and added: “I have but two,
and each of them is a nail for my coffin.” :

With firmness the teacher answered :
not the case with my children.”

“How is that?” inquired the guest.

“T will tell you,” explained the father. “You —
see, I taught my children a noble lesson, the lesson
of obedience. Isn’t it true, children? You know
you must obey your parents, don’t you?”

- Yes,” answered all the nine.

“And you do it gladly, don’t you?” .

The two little daughters smiled stealthily, while
the seven boys answered lustily: “Yes, dear father;
yes, indeed |”

“That is