# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1883_S41 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) Ghe Lutheran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PusiisueD BY THE EVANGELICAL Lurneran SynopicaL ConFERENCE or Norra AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Ofiice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. V. Martin Luther. Martin Luther was born on the 10th of No- vember, 1483; that is 400 years ago. And what did he do that his name is re- membered so long and that we this year cele- brate with joy his four hundredth birth-day? This question has been answered in former issues of our paper. We have seen that Lu- ther, born as the son of poor parents four hundred years ago, was God’s chosen servant |_ in the work of the Reformation. God endowed him with all the gifts which were needed for this great work. His powerful mind, his vast understanding, his great learning, his deep knowledge of the Scriptures, his great ability in teaching and defending the truth, his child- like modesty and self-denial, his fearless cour- age, his heroic faith have been admired by friend and foe. He has been called ‘‘a mir- acle among men.”’ : But that which made Luther the Reformer of the Church, and which makes -him so dear to our hearts, is his preaching of the eternal Gospel. When Luther was born, all was dark- ness; for the light of God’s truth lay hidden under the rubbish of Romish errors and super- stitions. ‘The priests and the pape pointed the people to other saviours than the Lord Jesus Christ. Luther himself, anxious for his soul’s salvation, became a monk and a priest of Rome. He tried hard to find peace for his poor troubled soul in all the false services of the pope’s church. But no peace could he find until God opened to him the Bible. He there learned that Jesus is the only Saviour for a poor sinner. In the Gospel of Jesus he found peace and rest. By the light of that Gospel he saw what wicked things the church of Rome St. Louis, Mo., November, 1883. taught the people to believe instead of the truth of God. This Gospel, whose saving power he had experienced in his own heart, he loudly proclaimed for the salvation of sinners, and boldly defended it against all its enemies. By this Gospel God Himself carried out the work of the Reformation. Luther says: ‘‘I did nothing but teach and preach the pure doctrine of Christ and translate the Gospels, and then laid me down and slept and rose again. The Holy Spirit did the rest through the Gospel.” Thus the victory was won. We still enjoy its fruits and its blessings. work of the Reformation. the memory of that great and good man—Dr. Martin Luther. ———2>+ oo > A Description of Luther. peared in the year 1519 during the disputation at Leipzig with the Romish Doctor Eck, is given in one of the letters of the Leipzig pro- fessor, Peter Schade, who was present at that He says: ‘Martin is of medium stature, of slender frame, and in consequence of severe study and anxiety so Jean that you He is yet in the prime of life, and his voice is clear and ringing. In speaking he shows his command of an extraordinary wealth both of thought In company he is courteous and friendly without austerity. He is scrupul- ous in the useful application of every hour to its appropriate work, and in the circle of his friends he is cheerful and delights in the sallies He always appears to be fresh and lively, and in the face of the terrors of his foes he maintains an assured peace of mind and a I willingly satisfy my- self that this man has not undertaken so great disputation. might almost count his bones. and of language. of -wit. cheerful countenance. a work without Divine assistance.” > -oaP o> oo Luther said: ‘I neither am, nor will be any I hold with the Church the one only common doctrine of Christ, who alone man’s master. is Master of us all, as said in Matthew 23, 38.’ — Those who price the blessings of a pure Gospel will thankfully remember the servant of God by whom God Himself carried out the glorious They will honor A description of Martin Luther as he ap- No. 11. Luther, the expected Reformer. When Luther, on his way to Worms, in the year 1521, came to the city of Frankfurt, an old lady sent him a present. She also paid him a visit and among other things said that she, when yet a child, had heard from her parents that the time was near when God would raise up some one who would oppose the errors and superstitions of popery. She hoped that he was the man and therefore wished him God’s grace and Holy Spirit for his important work. ——_—o +o oe Luther’s Industry. Luther labored for the spread of the Gospel not only by his lectures in the University and by his many sermons in the church, but also by the powerful writings that came from his able pen. He was one of the most active and most industrious of men. From 1517 to 1526, the first ten years of the Reformation, his pub- lished writings numbered 300; from 1527 to 1537 they numbered 232, and from 1537 to 1546, the year of his death, 183 books were published by him. This makes 715 in those 29 years, on the average 25 in every year, or one book every fourteen days of his public life. Some of those works, it is true, were written down by others listening to his dis- course, and some are but short tracts; many of them, however, are large books written with the greatest thoroughness and diligence. His translation of the Bible alone would be a gi- gantic work even if he had devoted all his life time to that work only. —s - eo Luther’s Brief Confession of Faith. In the year 1537 Luther was taken very sick in the city of Smalcald. He thought his end had come, and on leaving the city for home, he commended himself to the prayers of the Church and made this brief Confession of His faith: ‘‘I cling to the Lord Jesus and His Word, and in my heart know of no other right- eousness than the precious Word of Christ; which graciously cleanses me, and all who be- lieve, from every sin, as this is freely confessed in my books and in the Augsburg Confession.”