# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1889_S37 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) ¢ The Lutheran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PosiisHED BY THE EvaNGeLicaAL LurHeraAN SynopicaL ConFERENCE oF NortH AMERIOA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. XI. ‘Siiloulse Momo ctobenmiaco! No. 10. “The Dot Upon the I.” In Russia’s far-off frozen clime There lived a lovely child, The Lord to deeds and words of love His tender heart inclined. He loved to hear his parents read In God’s most holy word, And treasured up within his breast The blessed truths he heard. This little boy was very sick, And when about to die He called his father to his side, And said, ‘‘I want to buy “Bibles to send to heathen lands, Where they know not the Lord: That they may all read for themselves In His most holy word. “T cannot send whole Bibles there, Perhaps not one short word; But I would like to give some help To spread its truths abroad. “Those three bright pennies in my box I think a type would buy *To print in Christ’s most holy name The dot upon the i.’’ That stricken father did not fail Those little coins to send, O children, think how many coins In wanton waste you spend. Christ will receive the smallest gift. When follies tempt your eye, Think of the little Russian boy’s Small dot upon the i. Children’s Work for Children. The Way to Heaven. Among the many blessings which God gave to His Church through the Reformation of Dr. Martin Luther is the knowledge of the true way to heaven. The way to heaven is pointed out in the Bible. And the Bible ex- isted before Luther's time: Yes. But for ages this blessed Book of God was hidden from the people. Very few even of the learned knew i the Book. ‘Those who were called to be the » teachers of the church had mostly never seen it, much less bad they ever read it. The’people * generally did not know that there was such a book, Gross errors, which could give the troubled heart: of the poor sinner no peace, were preached as Gospel-truth. The repent- ing sinner was not told to trust in Jesus for his salvation, but he was told to trust in his own works, in his prayers to the virgin Mary and to the saints, in the mass said by the priests of the church. The Bible, the light of God, being taken away, darkness had spread over the Church, and in this darkness the people groped about and found no peace for their souls. They were not -led on the true way to heaven, but into ways in which they must be lost. Luther himself passed through much agony before he found the true way to heaven: He went into the cloister, he prayed and fasted until he looked more like a corpse than a living man, he heard and said mass, he -went to Rome and climbed up the so-called Pilate’s stairs on his bare knees. He tried to merit salvation by his own works and to get to heaven by his own righteousness. He went the way which the Romish church told him to go, but he found no peace until at last that verse of the Bible was revealed unto him: ‘©The just shall live by faith.” From the Bible he now learned that a sinner is not saved by his own works and holiness, but by grace through faith in the merits of Christ, the only Saviour of sinners. Having found this true way to heaven, he got rest, and peace, and comfort, and happiness. This Gospel he pro- claimed to the people. He préached Christ as the only Saviour in whom sinners can find sal vation. In all his sermons and writings it was his aim to make plain the way to heaven by grace through faith in the merits of Christ Jesus. So you see, my dear reader, the Reforma- tion was not begun on account of any trifling question, but on account of that all-important question: Which is the way to heaven? Thank God! we still have the pure Gospel. In our church the true way to heaven is still pointed out to sinners anxious for their souls’ salvation. ‘Let us rejoice on the festival day of the Reformation; for by the Reformation of Dr. Martin Luther God restored to His Church the pure Gospel-truth. Let us see to it also that we, like the great and good Luther, and like all other true believers before and since, Jesus, our Lord. dear Luther, earnestly labor for the spread of the pure Gospel, bringing others into the true Saved by faith! vation! she knew it. walk in the only true way to heaven, trusting for our salvation in the mercy of God in Christ And then let us, like our way to heaven. ——2 ~~ oo > Christ the Rock. “*By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourself: It is the gift of God.” Saved for nothing! Oh, blessed be God for such an absolutely free sal- A free Christ to a sinner in absolute poverty! A free Rock to a poor sinking soul! “You are sinking fast,’’ said a minister to a poor aged and dying lady. ‘‘No, sir,’’ was her reply; ‘‘I cannot sink through a Rock.”’? She was simply and sweetly resting on Christ, and Now, who can sink through a rock? But it is easier to sink through a rock than to sink through Christ into perdition. Some ‘‘hope to be saved” and are in more or less darkness on the all and absolute sufficiency of Christ, and free justification by faith alone. Men on a Rock do not ‘‘hope’’ to be on it. © They know they are on it. Those whom Christ pronounced ‘‘saved’’ in the days of His flesh knew it, and believed it. And surely believers have the same word of Jesus to this day for their salvation. ‘He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.’’ ‘‘These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life’? (1. John 5, 13). Now can I look at these words and believe them fully, and yet not know, on Christ’s testimony, that “T have eternal life?’’ Impossible. ———_——— + 0 <> ¢ Forgive and Forget. A little girl I know, has a needlebook with two covers. On one is worked, with blue silk, in tiny letters, Forgive and Forget; on the other,