# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1881_S42 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 42 The Lutheran Pioneer. (For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer’’.) Paraphrase of the 124th Psalm. through the entire three years’ course of study in| Besides, having mastered these languages, the their Theological Seminaries. very one of the} missionaries can now preach fluently to the na- leaders is a firm believer in the verbal inspira-| tives in their several tongues, and can more tion of the Sacred Scriptures, and hence they | easily impart to other missionaties a knowledge bring to the study of the very words of the] of those languages. This was a tedious and la- Holy Ghost a delight and diligence and rever-| borious undertaking. ~S ence, which is impossible to those who hold the] Third, the missionaries of the Church of loose and infidel view of inspiration, now so| Christ have, by God’s blessing, made con- commonly accepted by preachers, and alas! too| verts, planted churches, and established schools. Srequently taught in our Theological Seminaries.|In Asia Minor, in India, in China, in Africa, That there is a growing disregard of the author-| churches are organized, schools established, and ity of God’s word among many who are calledj native youths are going forth to proclaim “‘ the to train young men for the Gospel ministry is} unsearchable riches of Christ’’. The first mis- unhappily too obvious to be denied. The pride} sionaries, as they preached in the valley of dry of intellect, the conceit of learning, the ‘‘oppo-| bones, had their faith severely tried. The time sitions of science falsely so called’’ (1 Tim. 4,| seemed long, before any decided impression was 20.), the glamour of German rationalism or} made. But the work of preparation has been rather irrationalism, have blinded their eyes to} done, and now converts are more rapidly multi- the truth; and well might the Holy Ghost} plied. The churches already organized become write to them, as He did to the Corinthians, | efficient in extending the work. Prejudice shave ‘I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent be-| been overcome, and heathen children come in guiled Eve through his subtility, so your minds | increasing numbers under Christian instruction. should be corrupted from the simplicity that is} Fourth, the Church in Christian lands has in Christ’ (2 Cor. 11, 3.). the means of carrying forward the good work “As there is a growing disregard of the Bible} with greater rapidity. For instance, the British in Theological Seminaries, so there is a grow-| and Foreign Bible Society, organized in 1804, ing disregard of Theological Seminaries among }and the American Bible Society, organized in Christians who love the Bible above all other | 1816, are two noble institutions by whose labors books in the world, and who know that ‘all| copies of the Sacred Scriptures are very rapidly scripture is given by inspiration of God’’| multiplied, and sent abroad amongst the nations. (2 Tim. 8, 16.). In the light of such testi-| There are many other societies, for instance, the mony they walk rejoicing every day, and they | ‘‘German Evangelical Lutheran Bible Society’’ would turn neither to the right hand nor to the| at St. Louis, Mo.—engaged in the same work left, though all the Professors on the face of|—multiplying copies of the Sacred Scriptures, the earth were to deny the truth of verbal in-}sending forth tracts and religious books. Col- spiration. When God speaks, it becomes Doc-| porteurs are employed in carrying these publi- tors of divinity to bow their little heads in si-| cations to the doors of the people.—Besides all lence.’’? — this, the Church has much talent, much learning, May God keep our dear Lutheran Church in| many literary and religious institutions, in which the Truth and make her to see the great mis-| to train the rising generation. Indeed we-may sion she has in this our land over against the| truly say—that God has put into the hands of spread of infidel views. His people all the means and instrumentalities necessary to the work to which He is now loudly calling them. The fields are white to the har- vest, and the reapers must go forth to the work. May the people of God be led, in the course of k | time, more correctly to understand the commis- e| sion given by our Saviour to His Apostles, and through them to His Church—‘‘go, teach all nations’’—and may all the people say: ‘‘God bless the Church and HER MISSIONARIES.” OBE. If God had not been on our side, Says Israel with gladness, If God had not been on our side, We had despaired in sadness; For we are but a handful small, Held in contempt and scorn by all, All men rise up against us. Their wrath against us kindled was; If God but had permitted, They quickly would have swallowed us, We would have been outwitted; Like men, o’er whom a stream doth roll, The waters had gone o’er our soul, And proudly overwhelmed us. Blest be the Lord, who to them ne’er Us as a prey hath given! As birds out of the fowlers’ snare Our souls escaped; for riven Now is the snare, and we are free. Our help, O Lord, is e’er in Thee, Who madest earth and heaven! (Dr. M. Luther, 1525. Tr. by A. C., 1881.) —__—+— o~< o> The Bible and the Seminaries. The Bible is God’s word. Every word of that precious Book is inspired by God himself. This is the firm belief of every true Lutheran. It is the secret of Luther's strength in the war of the Reformation. Thank God, the Lutheran Church of our land still holds fast to this doc- trine, and in her Seminaries, where the pastors and teachers of the Church are trained for the service of the Lord, no other doctrine can be taught. It is not so, we are sorry to say it, in all the Seminaries of the other denominations of our country. The infidel view of the inspi- ration of the Bible seems to creep into those Seminaries and threatens ruin to the Church. At the late trial of Dr. Thomas, a Methodist preacher in Chicago, who among other doctrines also denies the verbal inspiration of the Bible, professors of theological Seminaries of the Meth- odist church were openly accused of holding the same infidel view in regard to the Holy Scriptures. There are men in those denomina- tions who see the great evil and the coming ruin and raise their voice against it. We know of a Conference of pastors and laymen who hold yearly meetings “for Bible Study,” and al- though we do not agree with those men in all the doctrines that they proclaim, we are glad to see them hold fast to the doctrine of verbal inspiration. ‘The Rev. Dr. Brookes, of St. Louis, one of the leading members of the Con- ference, gives us a report of its last meeting, which was held this summer at Old Orchard on the coast of Maine. From his report we quote the following: “Representatives from almost every state in the Union attended the meetings, among whom were found a considerable number of ministers of the gospel. It was a common remark made by these at the close of the Conference, that they had heard more Bible, and received more Bible instruction during the eight days, than ———— o